Program Benefits

What is the importance of outdoor education?

The Arboretum’s Professional Environment Educators support classroom teachers by:

  • Providing age-appropriate field materials and funding of $100 for classroom materials
  • Leading/modeling an outdoor education lesson at the start of the school year so the teacher can see how an experienced educator utilizes the outdoors;
  • Observing the teacher as they conduct an outdoor lesson and providing on-site assistance;
  • Serving as an on-call resource to provide advice and suggestions;
  • Leading a session at the end of the school year to further enrich standard course of study; and
  • Offering free opportunities to all participating students to present their data collection.

Benefits of Outdoor Education

Learning outside of the classroom has many benefits to both students and teachers. Taking your students outside weekly to participate in Project EXPLORE will help them to actively learn curricula outdoors and gain many of the benefits mentioned below.

fern

IMPROVE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND ACHIEVEMENT

Studies have shown that outdoor education can help improve test scores in science and other subjects including math and english, meet the needs of many different types of learners, and reduce ADHD symptoms.

hummingbird

CREATIVELY AND CONFIDENTLY CONDUCT YOUR LESSONS

Teachers utilizing the outdoors for education have increased confidence in teaching the required curriculum, find new ways of connecting the curriculum and have an increased enthusiasm for teaching.

forest

PROVIDE AUTHENTIC AND MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES

Students that participate in hands-on, place-based, real-world learning, among many other benefits, have an increased sense of importance, awareness and respect for their community, and affinity for stewardship.

echinecea

IMPROVE ATTENDANCE

Outdoor education has been shown to motivate and encourage students to actively and enthusiastically engage in lessons, especially students that are not typically engaged in the indoor classroom setting.

Stream

IMPROVE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

An overwhelming number of studies have shown many benefits to students health when engaged in outdoor learning. Benefits include increased physical activity, increased happiness, enhanced cognitive abilitives, and stress reduction.

bee

IMPROVE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

There are many social benefits to children learning together outdoors. Studies have found that students improve their social skills by learning to manage conflicts, effectively communicate and cooperate with their peers, and work together  in groups.

Learn More Apply for Mini Grant

Citizen Science is SCIENCE FOR ALL!

Citizen Science engages non-professionals of all ages and backgrounds in the process of observing and reporting data to be interpreted and utilized by professional scientists.

ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE

Participants can be anyone, anywhere. They can adults, students, kids, professionals, retirees, amateurs. Depending on the project, there is a wide range of involvement, from contributing one time data, to committing to make regular observations.

DATA CAN HELP REAL SCIENTISTS COME TO REAL CONCLUSIONS

Contributions to citizen science databases is used to inform conservation decisions, policies, peer-reviewed papers and further informs research efforts. Lost species, new species, never-before-seen findings and more have all been reported through citizen science efforts.

PARTICIPANTS USE THE SAME PROTOCOL
SO DATA CAN BE COMBINED AND BE HIGH QUALITY

Developing protocols allows scientists to compare data from hundreds and even thousands of participants. Depending on the project, the protocols can range from simple to more complicated.

THE FIELDS THAT CITIZEN SCIENCE ADVANCES ARE DIVERSE

Including ecology, astronomy, medicine, computer science, statistics, psychology, genetics, engineering,  and many more. These projects can be a great way to introduce someone to a new field, or immerse someone in a field they already love.

A WIDE COMMUNITY OF SCIENTISTS AND VOLUNTEERS WORK TOGETHER AND SHARE DATA TO WHICH THE PUBLIC, AS WELL AS SCIENTISTS, HAVE ACCESS

Some citizen science databases also provide ways for participants to explore, summarize, and graphically visualize the collected data.

Source: https://scistarter.com/citizenscience.html