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Introduction: Lessons from The Outdoor Classroom
Karen Cole1 and Cynthia Bennington2,*
When we approached Southeastern Naturalist about this special issue, we were
in our third year of a Longleaf Pine ecosystem restoration on a small corner of a
university campus—a natural history museum director and a plant ecologist struggling
to find the time, funding, volunteers, and campus support to create what we
called a teaching landscape. We were looking for ideas, models, and case histories
with a basic question in mind: How do we make field naturalists of us all?
We began with 2 objectives for this issue: (1) to bring together a broad collection
of examples of teaching natural history in situ that would inform and inspire those
working in areas whose main or tangential focus is education; and (2) to illustrate
the diversity of ways in which natural history education, conservation, and restoration
might engage a citizenry that is less and less connected to the natural world.
As we had hoped, this collection represents a range of institutions with missions
to educate, and the outcomes include an array of engagements, from class
assignments, field experiments, curricular plans, and service-learning programs to
conservation and restoration projects. The articles are arranged in 3 groups, by the
target audience and scope of the educational programming.
K–12 Outreach
The first 3 articles describe outdoor programs and long-term projects engaging
young scientists with environmental fieldwork. The program described in
“Educational Applications of Small-Mammal Skeletal Remains Found in Discarded
Bottles” features a roadside litter clean-up with analysis of mortality risk to small
mammals, combining a commitment to stewardship with “immersive hands-on
real-work learning”. “Connecting Teenagers to Coastal Sciences Through Research
and Education: Shark Fest Program” describes a long-standing program engaging
middle and high school students in tagging and monitoring sharks, which culminates
in a community festival. “The Schaus Swallowtail Habitat Enhancement Project:
An Applied Service Learning Project Continuum from Biscayne National Park to
Miami-Dade County Public Schools” summarizes a county-wide restoration project
with field work opportunities linked to a curriculum guide for local schools.
Undergraduate Research and Service-Learning Projects
The articles in this section provide models for training undergraduates, from
all disciplines, as natural scientists and environmental advocates. “Natural
1Gillespie Museum, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32723. 2Biology Department, Campus
Box 8264, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32723. *Corresponding author - cbenning@
stetson.edu.
The Outdoor Classroom
2017 Southeastern Naturalist 16(Special Issue10):1–3
Southeastern Naturalist
K. Cole and C. Bennington
2017
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Vol. 16 Special Issue 10
History Collections: Teaching About Biodiversity Across Time, Space, and Digital
Platforms” provides a case study for using natural history collections and newly
emerging digital databases to address biodiversity. Similarly, “An Inquiry-based
Approach to Engaging Undergraduate Students in On-campus Conservation
Research Using Camera Traps” describes a program which makes use of undergraduates’
digital fluency to engage them in conservation biology on campus. “Team
Salamander and its Evolution as the Longest-Running Group-Studies Initiative at
the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga” explores how collaboration and experiential
learning contribute to a sustainable program.
Ongoing Conservation/restoration Projects
The final 4 articles offer insights from new and established restoration projects.
First, “The FIU Nature Preserve: Achieving Biological Conservation Through
Diversification of Stakeholders” demonstrates how service-learning projects increased
use and visibility of a campus restoration. The next 2 articles provide case
studies for using service learning and undergraduate class projects and research
to advance ecosystem restoration. “Rocky River Wetland Usage for Education
and Recreation: Early Planning and Implementation in Anderson County, South
Carolina” details how university faculty and undergraduate surveys of wildlife
have increased volunteer involvement in all stages of development of a forest and
wetland site as a natural resource area, from site-clearing to fund-raising. Similarly,
“From the Ground Up: Natural History Education in an Urban Campus Restoration”
offers a brief account of the ongoing development of a 0.4-ha (1-acre) urban forest
with educational and environmental benefits. Finally, “Meeting Society’s Needs
for Education and Discovery: A Survey of Eight Field Stations and Marine Laboratories
in the Southeastern United States” surveys the programs of 8 southeastern
institutions which, following National Research Council recommendations, have
created site-specific educational programs.
In this collection, in situ is broadly conceived, with sites ranging from
abandoned bottles on a roadside, to natural history collections, to marine labs
and field stations as well as to the corners of campus, or, more broadly, county
lands and campus forests. While the topics for inquiry ranged widely, each project
started with something of interest—butterflies, wildflowers, salamanders,
sharks, digital cameras, skeletal remains in old bottles—and built a lesson, program,
service project, festival or conservation/restoration plan around it. Citizen
science is often key to successful programs, whether it involves data generation
or field experiences in tagging, identification, monitoring, or interpretation. Not
only do these articles acknowledge the importance of hands-on activities, but
they confirm that program engagement and learning outcomes at all levels begin
with the sense of inclusion in the scientific community. Partnerships are critical,
across disciplines, between campus and communities, with advocacy groups and,
of course, funding agencies. Much work remains in reaching out to diverse and
underrepresented groups.
Southeastern Naturalist
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K. Cole and C. Bennington
2017 Vol. 16, Special Issue 10
The natural history experiences described here seemed more often than not an
extra burden for the contributors—an addition to undergraduate teaching assignments
and research expectations; a voluntary service learning component for the
staff of a field station or marine lab on the weekends, or in the summer; and often
an extra-curricular add-on for teachers or program coordinators. If natural history
education is to retain its importance or see an “upswing”, as Reed Noss points
out, these projects must be, on the one hand, simple enough to sustain and, on the
other, valued as equal in importance to more specialized research or research that
is deemed more directly beneficial to humans.
We are indebted to the editorial board of Southeastern Naturalist for providing
this forum, one form of reward to those who have created innovations in natural
history education; and to Reed Noss for penning a Foreword to this special issue
which reminds us what’s at stake.