by editor | Jan 20, 2026 | Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Environmental Literacy, Inquiry, Language Arts, Place-based Education, Questioning strategies, Sustainability
Healing Waters
An Oregon educator breaks the logjam of environmental conflict
by Matt Love
The rain stops and my 7th and 8th grade combined English class hikes down Nestucca Spit, a finger of drifting dunes on the north Oregon Coast. We are there to stimulate our senses for
a poetry writing exercise.
It takes us an hour to reach the mouth of the bay. Across the water, high up on the cliffs, a 10,000-square-foot mansion faces out to sea. Before construction began, an elk herd grazed this headland.
In unison we stare up at the fortress. “I wish we could dynamite that place,” says one student. We all hear him, and we all know who built and owns the house. The owner’s daughter is standing 10 feet away.
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It’s election time and a measure on the ballot calls for a ban on all clearcutting on state and private forests. Oregon annually produces a majority of the nation’s timber supply, so war has been declared. In my social studies classroom, I lead a deliberate discussion on the measure. Within a few minutes, the discussion devolves into yelling and generalizations. Nobody listens. The last comment I hear before I shut it down it “Hey, you live in wood houses and burn wood for heat. You’re a hypocrite!”
Before leaving Portland to teach at Neskowin Valley School on the coast, I never imagined student conflict over natural resource use had the potential to tear my classroom apart. Part of my naiveté was ignorance of rural values, and the other part was sanctimony for my own “enlightened” environmental views.
I had taught social studies in large suburban high schools for a decade and moderated many discussions on environmental issues. But passions rarely flared, and the disagreements never became personal — unlike debates on immigration, abortion and the death penalty, which often generated rancor, confrontations and put-downs despite my efforts to maintain civil dialogue.
In my new community, the stakes — and the rules — were different. I came here to teach English, social studies and environmental science at a school that borders a national forest and a creek that once boasted a legendary salmon run. This was the country, and I was very green.
But I seasoned quickly. I learned that my students have parents or other relatives who raise cows for meat and milk or who log, fish, develop property or work for businesses that service those industries. The Future Farmers of America and 4-H are still part of the culture here, and occasionally students come to class with manure on their knee-high rubber boots. Yet I also have students whose parents moved here from urban areas because of a strong commitment to protecting and restoring the natural world.
These conflicting visions of our shared natural resources divide my students as deeply as more visible differences do in many other places. But why? Virtually every American believes in the sanctity of private property — it’s right there in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. As I have observed in my new environment, where people own much more acreage than a typical suburban lot, it’s about a land ethic. What does each person feel about the role and responsibility of humans in the natural world? Are the land and water and wildlife meant to serve human needs at any cost, or do we have a moral and ecological duty to uncompromisingly protect and even restore the environment? Is there a middle ground?
In practical terms, the conflict often comes down to questions like this: Should a parcel of old-growth forest be preserved, or logged and then replanted, or developed into a home site of golf course? Can the government require livestock operators to fence their cattle 30 feet away from streams? In my experience, dialogue that focuses on specific use plans quickly breaks down along hard lines. As a teacher attempting to help students see beyond the impasse, I ask instead: What about the environment do we value in common, and what can we do together to support that?
Costs and Values
Tillamook County, where I live, is situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Range. It’s a place where many families make a proud living from natural resource industries. Boats troll the ocean, bays and rivers for a variety of seafood: salmon, crabs, tuna halibut. Sale of timber from a nearby state forest provides revenue for schools. Every working day, log trucks loaded with spruce, fir and hemlock roll through the small towns.
The county has 25,000 human residents, 25,000 dairy cows and has given its name to the famous local cheddar cheese. Tourism is important, too. People are attracted to the area because of its beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities. In recent years, a booming Oregon economy has led to the construction of many spacious second homes and commercial enterprises near the shore.
But there is another side to the natural resource economy and real estate development. Clearcut hills blight the landscape and lead to erosion. Only 1 percent of the wild salmon from pre-settlement days now return to spawn in the watershed. Nearly a dozen rivers in the county qualify for the state’s “water quality limited” list, which in slang means “messed up.” New luxury housing for weekend vacationers destroys wildlife habitat.
Tillamook County serves as a perfect example of a rural Northwest community riding the roller coaster of natural resource economics and staggering from tough regulations imposed under the power of new state rules and the increasing enforcement of the federal Endangered Species and Clean Water acts. Life and livelihoods are changing in these small towns, and many folks don’t like it. New laws require 50- to 75-foot building setbacks from streams. Manure can’t be sprayed where it used to be. Beachfront property owners can’t riprap boulders to save sliding homes. There is substantial talk of tearing down dams on the Snake River to save salmon, ending grazing on federal land and turning forests into parks — notions that were inconceivable just a few years ago.
A chorus of other voices echo Tillamook High School senior Jacob Day, whose editorial in the school newspaper advocated dredging a bay and criticized environmentalists for opposing it. “I believe that human beings were put onto this earth to rule and alter our environment however we see fit to make it useful and valuable to us,” Jacob wrote. In the student parking lot of Jacob’s school, which is located between a dairy farm and a timber mill, a bumper sticker reads: “I eat spotted owl for breakfast.”
Your Own Backyard
In my observation, students in these affected rural communities who despise environmental regulations on private property and on natural resource industries vastly outnumber those who favor them; intimidation felt by those who don’t share the majority view is real. Cheryl Roraback-Siler, who teaches biology at Tillamook, encourages structured discussions on local natural resource conflicts but often finds ecology-minded students reluctant to voice their opinions. A dedicated environmental activist who was arrested in 1998 for protesting the Makah tribal whale hunt off Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Roraback-Siler avoids presenting the pro-ecological perspective unless none of her students will.
“I find myself having the present the other side to many issues,” she says, “because some students feel uncomfortable,” She reports that many times students come up after class and say they wanted to contribute but felt afraid to voice an opinion that might stigmatize them. As one student at Tillamook High observes, “I think there are more people who want to speak up, but they also don’t want their car keyed (scratched).”
Joan Haley, acting director of the North American Association for Environmental Education, emphasizes the importance of balance. “We support the ideal that teachers are not advocates, that they let students make up their own minds,” she says. Haley’s organization urges teachers to present a broad range of information and tie curriculum to “their own backyard.”
She admits that teaching about conflict over natural resources can be challenging. “ think environmental education is misperceived in rural areas. Many people feel it’s going to be an attack on what they do.”
Rural areas are not the only places with natural resource conflicts. Recently, cities such as Portland and Seattle, where endangered salmon swim through the shadows of skyscrapers, have been forced to confront municipal policies like pesticide use and storm sewer drainage that can contaminate rivers.
Although the Northwest’s environmental conflicts make national headlines, other regions experience similar resource-related disputes that impact classrooms. In Florida, for example, the embattled Everglades and its threatened wildlife present many natural resource conflicts that pit farmers, developers and conservationists against one another. In the Southwest, issues like water allocation and reintroduction of wolves create tension, and Rocky Mountain states face dilemmas over managing the Yellowstone bison heard, ski resort development and mining. Teachers and environmental education organizations all across the country report the same story we experience in the Northwest.
Larry Beutler, the editor of Clearing, a magazine for Northwest environmental educators, notes that, as pressure to restore watersheds and protect threatened species increases, teachers everywhere will have the opportunity to look at an issue close to home. For Beutler, the most important common denominator for educators across regions, in big cities and small towns, is this: All parties to natural resource management conflicts have children who attend schools, These students bring traditions, new ideas, disputed scientific facts and different opinions into the classroom. If teachers choose to teach about local resource conflicts, they need to have well-developed strategies for handling tension and promoting meaningful environmental education.
Localizing the curriculum is essential, but local “hook” isn’t enough, Beutler says. It’s essential to build in strategies for managing conflict, not just open the floor to wild debate about a story in the newspaper that most students have never read. For many, this is not a “current events” topic — it’s about their families’ lives and property.
He offers a further caution: “You have to be careful of special interest groups that produce materials that tend to be inflammatory.” A number of environmental education curriculums have received negative attention recently because of their association with corporations or environmental activist groups.
Action Plans
The great advantage or teachers everywhere is that many public and nonprofit agencies involved in natural resource management have developed plans calling for collaboration among the public sector, private industry and advocacy groups in practicing and promoting ecology. These plans can be easily adapted to serve as the hands-on culmination of a unit of study.
At my school we use the local watershed council’s action plan. Because it was developed through consensus, it has credibility in the community. What has worked well for me is using the action plan’s recommendations to bring students (and parents) together to create learning and service opportunities that promote the health of local watersheds and build an ethic of stewardship.
Many teachers who want students to consider all sides to a natural resource conflict use role-plays. To make them topical, I conduct interviews and other research and write my own scenarios. This takes time, but it allows me to add realism — especially if locals are invited to contribute narration and judge presentations. And like all effective role-plays, my scenarios mandate solving a real problem. It’s not enough for students to pretend they are a logger or an activist who lives in a tree. They need to research a local problem, talk to real people and collect scientific facts. After the presentations, the goal needs to be real public outcomes that include gathering hard data, which in turn leads to actions that heal damaged watersheds and reduce conflict between interest groups.
Here, it’s about water — more than 100 inches of rain falls annually in some parts of the county. One point all sides agree on is that, with that much water flowing over land to the sea, water quality is seriously compromised by logging, livestock and development, which in turn threatens wildlife and people and the special character of Tillamook County.
My class studies water quality and ways to go about improving it. Often we find practices (many performed by the students’ parents) that contribute to poor water quality. But we don’t blame or castigate. We decide together what we can accomplish to help our local watershed. We then labor to transform the water and ourselves.
The labor we perform is nonconfrontational and, as I see it, apolitical. I have yet to encounter anyone who objects to having students plant trees and native grasses; remove non-native plants; assess culverts that block fish passage; conduct spawning surveys for salmon; test water for high temperature, sedimentation and fecal coliform bacteria; monitor macro-invertebrate populations; and — my personal favorite — sling fish carcasses into nutrient-deprived streams. All of these activities provide students with exciting and legitimate field experience in science. And, to me, they have sort of an evangelical feel, because they rely on great faith that our efforts will matter.
In fact, I call what we do a baptism because it is about a cleansing and forming a new covenant for the watershed and the people who use it. “Baptize yourself in the watershed!” is my rallying cry, which surprises me, since I’m not religious. Even the children of loggers and ranchers who want to keep on doing what their parents do can get behind my slogan. Together we can save the watersheds for all of us, including wildlife, and wash away any conflict that stands in the way of — well, salvation.
# # #
At the time this article was written, Matt Love was an environmental educator and writer based in northwestern Oregon. This article is reprinted from the Fall 2000 issue of Teaching Tolerance Magazine, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery AL 36104.
Activity: Watershed Awareness
Bringing a local focus to education about environmental conflict starts from the ground up — literally. A good way for students to begin is by mapping the natural resource uses (private, public and industrial) in a given watershed. Here are some basic steps that can be adapted for use at all grade l
Map your watershed. After students have a basic scientific grasp of what a watershed is (especially how topography plays a role), have them map from memory the watershed they live in and what goes on there.
Go deeper. At an age-appropriate level, make a complete geographical, scientific and cultural study of your watershed. have the class explore topics ranging from elevation, water quality, endangered species and politics to oral history and local natural disasters (to name a few), so they can gain a complete picture. Remember, watershed awareness involves much more than just science.
Create a model. Have students construct a scale model of their watershed, using clay, sand, Legos, cardboard or — my personal favorite — ginergerbrea. With the gingerbread, use icing of various colors of distinguish waterways, forests, farmland and developed areas. an edible map can prompt a lively discussion about the “consumption” of natural resources.
Take action. A detailed examination of any watershed almost invariably reveals significant environmental problems. Fortunately, many of these problems have been the focus of intense study by government agencies.
Have students research local environmental assessments and compile proposed solutions for healing damaged watersheds. Many of these action steps, such as tree-planting, reduction of pesticide use and removal of non-native plants, are ideal for service learning projects.
by editor | Sep 20, 2025 | Data Collection, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Forest Education, Inquiry, Integrating EE in the Curriculum, Learning Theory, Marine/Aquatic Education, Questioning strategies
Building a Community: The Value of a Diack Teacher Workshop
Teachers are being asked to do more than ever before. We are inundated with meetings, grading, analyzing data and curriculum development. The idea of taking kids outside to do field-based research can be daunting and filled with bureaucratic hurdles. Given all this, why should we take our precious time to implement this new type of learning?
by Tina Allahverdian
It is a warm summer day at Silver Falls State Park and a group of teachers are conducting a macroinvertebrate study on the abundance and richness of species around the swimming hole. The air is filled with sounds of laughter from children playing, parents conversing on the bank, and the gentle babble of the stream below the dam. The teachers, armed with Dnets, clipboards, and other sampling equipment, move purposefully through the water collecting aquatic species. Being a leader at this unique workshop, I am there to support the teacher’s inquiry project and also help brainstorm ways to bring this type of work back to their classrooms.
The buckets on the bank soon host a variety of species like water beetles, caddisflies, and stonefly nymphs, offering a snapshot of the rich biodiversity in the stream. We teachers sit on the bank, peering into the tubs, magnifying lenses and field guides in hand. We fill out data collection forms and discuss our findings. On this particular summer day, several young children at the park gather to see what we are doing. Their curiosity is piqued by the idea of discovering the hidden inhabitants of the aquatic ecosystem they are swimming in. The teachers and I patiently explain the project to the children and their parents. While some of the crowd goes back to swimming, two little girls stay for over an hour to help identify species. Later, while we pack up a mother stops to thank us for including her daughter in the scientific process. She shares that discovering the magic of the stream with us is her daughter’s idea of a perfect day. This moment is a testament to the power of experiential learning and the unexpected magic that can happen when we take learning into the field.
After the field work is completed, we all gather back at the lodge to create posters and present our results to the rest of the workshop participants. Based on individual interests and grade levels, teachers work in small groups to analyze their data and share their conclusions and questions. There are various topics that groups are curious about — from lichen or moss, to bird behavior and effects of a recent fire on the tree species. Teachers take on the work of scientists so they can get a feel for the experience their students will have in the future.
Teachers often want to backwards plan, knowing the end product their students will experience and learn. But this type of scientific inquiry requires us to let go of control so that students can ask authentic, meaningful questions that are not yet answered. Teachers come to learn that teaching the process of science is often more valuable than teaching the content. They are engaging in the work of true scientists and learning how to be curious, lifelong learners along the way. Being a part of inspiring projects and trips such as these is an experience that teachers, students, and even parent volunteers will remember for years to come. As an upper elementary teacher myself, I often hear about the power of our work when families come back to visit and reminisce about their time in my classroom. I know that this work will impact future generations and their enthusiasm for science learning. Not only that, we are teaching students to do, read and understand the work of a scientist so they can make informed choices in their adult lives.
Every time I help lead this workshop, I witness a transformation among the participants over the course of the three days. On the last day we give a feedback form which is always filled with so much enthusiasm for taking the learning back to the classroom and to colleagues; I often hear this is the best professional development they have experienced in a long time because it is so practical and hands-on. One of my favorite parts about the Diack field science workshops is witnessing the teacher’s excitement for learning about nature that I know will be passed on to students back in the classroom. Twice a year we meet at a beautiful location in Oregon where teachers from many different districts have the opportunity to carry out the mini-inquiry project and plan curriculum that promotes student-driven, field based science inquiry for K-12 students.
Perhaps one of the most significant outcomes of the Diack Ecology Workshop is the formation of a community of educators passionate about outdoor learning. Teachers exchange ideas, share success stories, and collaborate on developing resources for implementing field-based inquiry projects. They share ideas across grade levels to get a sense of where their students are going and have come from. This sense of community not only strengthens the impact of the program but also creates a support network for educators venturing into the world of environmental education. I always leave the workshop inspired by the creativity, collaboration, and joy from teachers. It is one of my favorite parts of the summer and I would encourage anyone who works with students to come join us and experience the magic.
Tina Allahverdian is passionate about connecting students with science in the natural world. When not teaching fifth graders, she can be found reading in a hammock, kayaking through Pacific Northwest waters, or hiking in the mountains. She currently teaches in West Linn, Oregon, and resides in SE Portland with her husband, twin boys, and their dog, Nalu.
by editor | Sep 20, 2025 | Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Data Collection, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Inquiry, Place-based Education, Questioning strategies, Student research, Teaching Science
Instilling a culture of caring and fieldwork in a Montessori adolescent program
by Jonathan Erickson
Metro Montessori School
Portland Oregon
One thing that drives most educators is the hope that we are guiding students who will ultimately care about the work that they do and care about the world in which they do it. Remembering this should be a sort of thesis for all of the planning and action that follows. The work we do as teachers should help students develop into people who value themselves and the effort they put forth.
Through this writing I hope to answer the questions: “How do we best instill a culture of caring in the learning community?” and “How does fieldwork and ecology connect to other areas of social development?”
Teachers and Guides need to strive to create immersive social and scientific experiences for students, just as we would if we hoped for them to gain mastery a new language. We need to make space for students to dive deeply into valuable work so that they will not feel like “work” is just a four letter word, but will realize that it can feel good and serve a greater purpose.
We’ve all stumbled onto those perfect moments where we observe students in flow, where they are finding joy in their work and satisfaction in the process as much as the result. How can we make these moments more commonplace?
I am working towards a cultural shift at my own school. Saying it like this implies that the movement would be larger than one teacher and bigger than one class. After all a culture outlasts a tenure. I believe that we can intentionally plan and drive this change by designing and supporting long-term, project-based fieldwork rooted in discussions of current events and personal values.
Caring for natural resources and spaces
After completing a seminar reading about learning to see, this student was inspired to walk slow and carry a hand lens.
My students are adolescents. As such, they are beginning to view themselves as part of a larger world community, and they are getting more and more emotionally invested in what they see and hear from their peers, parents, social media, and the news. To be frank, what my students witness every day directly or indirectly is pretty frightening and truly merits mediated discussion. So we allow time in our learning community for students to debrief what the world is throwing at them. That said, as the adults in the workspace, we must impart a sense of hope for positive change, as young adults can easily fall victim to despondency and gloom.
The above paragraph could be a jumping off point for scheduling more service work, getting politically involved, becoming a “Green School”, discussing and understanding mental health issues, or countless other initiatives. Any work in the school that is inspired by hope for a better future is meaningful work, and hopefully we can make time for all of it. When it comes to the environmental crisis facing our world however, the entry point is in ecosystem experiences. Students will care for what they understand, and they will move towards understanding with ecological field study.
Practical lessons for us all
How can ecological field study find a place in an already full curriculum? That is just one of the challenges that I and others have faced while trying to include big projects and studies in our yearly work cycle.
Working in an independent Montessori adolescent program means that there is an administrative and institutional commitment to deep work. In my case it also means flexibility since, while we are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, we aren’t beholden to state, district, or school board mandates. Dr. Montessori placed emphasis on following the innate interests and natural tendencies of children; which we’re doing when we take them outside and ask them to be curious. This is what we are doing when we allow students to take weeks or longer to study something that may not be discovered in a textbook or online.
A student discovering that moss isn’t just moss. Samples will be used to see if these mosses support different CO2 emitting organisms and which contribute most to the pH of runoff.
Onboarding
Student-driven projects of depth have always been a part of our students’ experience, so I don’t want it to seem like this piece is missing in our curriculum, but ecological field study is a new avenue, and I do not want it to seem ephemeral; I want it to run through all the work we do in a school year. Since I work as part of a team, it takes good communication and collaborative planning to pull this initative through.
We are not a large ship, but we are still a ship, and when we alter direction we need more than one person committed to the change. Because scheduling fieldwork will likely impinge on the plans of other guides and teachers, loop them into the work and get them excited about the possible application and integrations between science, math, and literacy disciplines. I think that most teachers like to get excited.
We are early in the shift, but I have arranged for co-teachers to join me in a field science professional development opportunity next summer hosted by the Diack Ecology Education Program and Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School. This 3-day workshop will give us the chance to do the work of our students; transforming our curiosity into a scientific question and collecting data and observations to possibly support our hypotheses. We don’t get to practice what we teach often enough in the classroom as we get bogged down in student management, record-keeping, and the like. It will be refreshing to feel the way our students feel when they are immersed in nature and are driven by curiosity. This workshop will also give the teaching team a chance to collaborate and find ways to make fieldwork a reality with our school’s unique situation.
How to plan
The culture of caring surrounds the individual work cycles like an atmosphere. Ensuring that the work cycle will align with the program goals, such as they were stated in the above thesis, means students will experience continuity in teaching philosophy and predictability in their work.
My teaching team plans “work cycles” not discrepant units, since they continue and flow into each other through the years. Students are already familiar with the ways that knowledge and skills find application across the work day. For example, understanding how plants rely on mycorrhiza and nutrients might inform the potting soil that they buy for the school garden. Understanding how human activity affects runoff might alter how students discuss environmental case studies in ethics.
Even with a willing culture and total buy-in from all the invested parties, time is still at a premium every day in the learning space and with its scarcity, there is a need for intentional planning. My goal with this schoolwide shift is to be able to have work flow into work in logical and obvious, though sometimes unexpected, ways. I want interrelationships between content lessons and activities to feel mutualistic in nature.
To be certain, there are countless ways that educators organize their ideas and put them into action; when I draft a learning cycle plan of this “big work,” I consider three periods or stages. The first period contains the key lessons and the important foundational content that the future work will build upon. The second period contains the independent student work and research, while the third period finds students presenting their work in some formal manner. All this is followed by professional reflection and the chance to begin again with a new cohort. Students also have the opportunity to continue inquiry work in our learning spaces for multiple years which allows them to build on and enhance their previous study.
Using tools that we have in our STEM space, students are inspired to analyze forest soil and compare with compressed soil of the trail. They will see if forest soil can host more nematodes, an organism that they are excited to have learned about.
First Period
Note to self: You know what’s best, but listen to student feedback as you enter into content lessons. If students get to be drivers of the learning, they are invested in the outcome.
This year, I wanted to begin with an extended amount of time just spent in nature, partially unstructured and casual: a sort of “site safari” to see what is and imagine what is possible. This was a time for work to call out to the student. These outings can be somewhat challenging for my school since we are located in downtown Portland, Oregon, but they are not impossible. It is worth it to take time to visit the outdoor workspace if just to remind students that these areas exist and need to be preserved.
This past fall, the entire student body came to the forest for journal work, readings, break-out groups with specialists, observations, discussions, chances to practice scientific illustration, etc.. We de-briefed the visit by creating a list of questions and curiosities. All of the students and adults ended the day getting something different, a personal mix of learning and asking. This was the jumping off point for content and skill lessons.
- Following that initial immersion into nature I offer the following key lesson because they seem the most useful for students as they become more intentional about the direction of their work:
- What is a scientific question? What is a variable?
- What can be measured?
- Biotic and abiotic factors
- Interspecific relationships
- Trophic levels and energy flow
- Levels of organization; What is life?
- Taxonomy and classification
- Evolution and speciation
I like to clarify for students early on that our goal of inquiry in nature is partially to gain understanding but mostly to build appreciation and keep or develop a sense of wonder. Set a manageable goal since to fully understand what happens in nature is beyond our human capabilities. Appreciating the complexity of local ecosystems and acknowledging the minutiae of countless unfolding stories seems achieveable and leads to the caring that is our ultimate goal with students.
The value of the activities and lessons should be clear to the learners. When purpose is veiled for too long, student motivation and thus caring can quickly be extinguished.
Breaking an ecosystem into its components asks students to reconsider what life looks like. Sometimes it looks like witch’s butter.
Second Period
After the majority of key lessons have been given and the basis of ecology built, students can follow their personal interests into individual curiosity and research. Most students will need guidance as they start this process, and some will need it throughout. As the ego-bearing adult it can be hard to release control of these personal investigations because, inevitably, students are going to ask unanswerable questions of you and choose to take you down some untrodden paths, figuratively, maybe.
A Montessori Guide (teacher) can sometimes act as a teammate in this work, sometimes they are a part of the learning environment, and most often they are an observer of the child. Making observations helps the adult be what the child needs during a sensitive period, that is, a perfect moment for learning something new.
Students enter into this second period armed with a scientific question. Many times the scientific question leads down a rabbit hole, again figurative, maybe. If we had our way, these independent inquiries would run their full course and could unfold over months or longer. In reality, we sometimes have weeks and students might have to get comfortable with indefinity. Students will understand that some data sets will be left incomplete, and the work may fall onto the backs of others down the road. This is one point of having a fieldwork culture in place, so that picking up the reins on a long-term study becomes commonplace for students. Just like humans are part of ecosystems, students are part of the study of ecosystems for a limited time and and benefit from collaboration over time and with peers.
Students enjoy the unexpected things that they find in the forest, like this rootwad and nurse log, almost as much as they enjoy doing work side-by-side with friends.
Third Period
Whether an investigation runs its course or is interupted by circumstance, there needs to be a logical end-point so that students can move on to other purposeful work. The third period is all about sharing their work with others.
These days it seems that there are more ways for students to share their work with the world than ever before. Anyone lucky enough to work in a middle school will know that sometimes adolescents want to be pretty goofy with their final product. I remember when a group produced a carbon cycle music video in the style of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Ultimately however, I ask that they also present their findings more formally, some of the following modes would work for me:
- Produce a video
- Present to the neighborhood
- Publish an article
- Produce a podcast
- Create a blog
- Send results to a professional for feedback
- Organize an event with parents and families
- Go to a science fair
Adolescents gain a sense of what Dr. Montessori has termed valorization from presenting to peers and others outside the community; they gain a feeling of capability that is a vital experience for those who are becoming adults. This is a chance to see the mastery of students gained through the work with real questions solved through observing in the outdoors.
The wrap
Our time outside is part of a pedagogy of place that implies that this experiential learning will lead to both empathy and action. So a culture of fieldwork and a culture of caring go hand-in-hand. As students begin to see interdependence in nature they better understand interdependence in their community and society. They may begin to see their impact on peers more readily after observing and measuring the impact of different ecosystem members or factors. They will at least have a framework for understanding impact.
We have to come to terms with the fact that we have all signed up for work that never ends. We can hope that it gets easier by building a culture where our work and the work of our students has purpose, meaning, and value. I find comfort remembering that with all the flaws in my planning and delivery of ecology concepts, students will always grow when they are outdoors making discoveries alongside their peers and with supportive adults. To see the best results in the students that we work with, we should put them in the learning environment that nature prepares for them. As Dr. Maria Montessori states in her book From Childhood to Adolescence, “When children come into contact with nature, they reveal their strength.”
Words as true as when they were written nearly 80 years ago.
Some Good Short Seminar Readings for Students of Ecology
- “Clouds in Each Paper” from The Other Shore by Thich Nhat Hanh
- “Learning to See” from Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- “Partnerships” from The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell
- “Fungi and the Anthropocene: Biodiversity discovery in an epoch of loss” by A. Pringle, E. Barronn, and J. Wares
- Selected excerpts from “Entangled Life,” by Merlin Sheldrake
Jon Erickson is a Montessori Guide and Middle School Teacher and has worked with adolescents in Alaska and Oregon for 15 years. He currently works with students in Portland and enjoys the opportunity for side-by-side learning and hands-on work. He teaches STEM and plans curriculum for classes with names like “Fisheries Management and Watershed Studies,” “Cascadia Rainforest Ecology,” “Bicycle Physics, Use, and Maintenance,” and “Makerspace/Woodshop Creations.”
by editor | Sep 15, 2025 | Adventure Learning, Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Data Collection, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Forest Education, Homeschool, Inquiry, Outdoor education and Outdoor School, Place-based Education, Questioning strategies, STEM, Teaching Science
A Natural Fit: Homeschooling and the Establishment of a Research Forest
by Jess Lambright
For those open to an alternative educational path, a classroom with no walls or desks but instead trees, meadows, and streams, offers abundant opportunities for scientific exploration. My journey in outdoor education started by home-educating my own children, but soon expanded to include other students and families. Although making everyday a field day comes with certain challenges—such as very wet, cold winter days—it has also shown me how adaptable young people are, and how many spontaneous and fascinating learning opportunities present themselves when you commit to regular immersion in the natural world.
I have come to appreciate the vast range of possibilities in which students can acquire knowledge. While some homeschooling families follow packaged curriculum closely and monitor carefully to make sure their children meet state standards each year, others chose a less structured approach called unschooling, rooted in a deep trust for kids’ natural tendency and ability to learn. This philosophy can free a motivated young person to dive deeply into an ocean of learning powered by autonomy, inspiration, and infinite possibilities.
Connecting to place and stewardship of land
A multi-disciplinary unit study called My Tree and Me, where each student was connected with a specific tree which they measured (diameter, height, age) conducted secondary research about the species, wrote poetry, and created art with materials from the tree. One student decided to give his final poster presentation from the branches of the Cascara tree he had spent so many hours with.
The first outdoor program I hosted involved an established group of kids spending an entire day outdoors, once per week, for over four years. Week after week and year after year we returned to the same 40-acre woods from the first days of fall through the start of summer. It was common for our group to wander through the forest, without a destination or agenda, letting our innate curiosity lead the way. Wandering freely, with open eyes, allowed us to get in touch with what excited us and created opportunities for true discovery (Young et al., 2010, 56).
It filled me with satisfaction to watch the deep connection to place that developed over time in each of us. Monuments and landmarks, like a circle of giant old moss-covered stumps towards the southwest corner of the forest, acquired names and memories and provided comfort and familiarity when they were encountered. We would experience the wet meadow as a place that requires rubber boots to traverse in the wet months, a beautiful explosion of white flowers and soft grasses that dance in the wind in the summer, and a sea of delicate purple camas flowers in the spring. One year we returned to the same sit spots week after week, recording changes in our journals as spring brought all the growing things to life.
Students pause to examine a pile of feathers they discovered while exploring the woods on a rainy day. The group came up with a series of questions about what happened and brainstormed ideas about how they could investigate further to potentially find answers.
Spending time on a particular piece of land, through the seasons and years, inevitably leads to a sense of kinship and creates an urge to protect and enhance the natural environment. It’s been rewarding to teach students about which plants are non-native and potentially harmful to the local ecosystem, then see them step up as guardians of the land. When we wander through the woods, sometimes they spot a pocket of invasives and if we’re lucky enough to be carrying long-handled loppers, the team of weed warriors can quickly level a patch of Himalayan blackberry. In addition to studying and exploring, offering students an opportunity to actively participate in land management elevates their sense of purpose and deepens their connection to the natural world.
Full Family Learning
Homeschooling naturally leads to multiple ages and families all learning together. In the early days of our homeschool outdoor program the adults often observed activities and supported logistics. But over time it became clear that we truly were a mixed-age group of learners and explorers. Treating everyone as learners equally can have the effect of empowering young people. Sometimes kids master skills quickly. teaching what they’ve learned to adults. And sometimes the best exchange comes not from experts, who have a deep and longstanding understanding of a concept- but those who have recently experienced the gift of insight.
Mixed age learning is a mutually beneficial relationship fostering growth in multiple ways. Adults sometimes shelter in the security of topics they already understand and avoid venturing into areas less familiar. Conducting scientific inquiry in nature is ideal for having a high ceiling and a low floor: everyone knows something, and no one knows everything! Cultivating a growth mindset, by creating an atmosphere where mistakes are celebrated as learning opportunities, and where having a question is as valuable as having an answer (Boaler, 2015, 11), pairs beautifully with immersive study in nature.
A team of researchers determine the percent meadow knapweed present in a one-meter plot square by examining each of 100 smaller squares for the plant of interest.
Authentic Curriculum
Each day that I meet a group of students in the natural world, I come prepared with a plan for that day. Sometimes my plans are elaborate and detailed, and sometimes they are less specific and open to input from my fellow adventurers. But without exception I am mentally prepared and openly delighted to be upstaged by the unexpected. Whether it is locating a dead porcupine after noticing an unusual smell, being suddenly pelted by large hail, being startled by the arrival of the cacophonous noise of a murder of crows, or being circled by two deer so distracted in their mating dance that they fail to notice us; being fully present for nature’s dramas is my top priority.
After waiting over a year for the soft tissue to decompose, students collect and sort bones from a deer that died of natural causes near the Bear Creek Wilderness.
One day, just as the families were arriving at the Bear Creek Wilderness, a truck with two wildlife professionals pulled up to examine a deer laying in the horse pasture adjacent to our meadow. Curious, we gathered to ask questions about what might have happened. When they offered to let us keep the recently deceased animal, we gladly accepted- and spent the day dragging it across the meadow into the woods, securing it with paracord, and setting up our two trail cameras to watch what would happen.
Each week we checked on the deer, and everyone brave enough to venture near got to experience first-hand what decomposition looks and smells like. The camera footage revealed a series of fascinating dramas involving a bobcat, opossums, neighborhood dogs, and finally turkey vultures. A year and half later we carefully collected the bones and spent hours sorting and reconstructing a full deer skeleton. Finally, we tried our hands at making bone tools. In my experience, the best learning opportunities are not planned or expected. But when we build regular rhythms and practices, it is possible to “lay the groundwork for the outbreak of authentic curriculum” (Sobel, 2008, 81).
Cultivating scientific inquiry
Students work to match specific leaves to nature journal pages. Each student found a leaf while wandering through the woods, then recorded details of that leaf in their nature journals using words, pictures and numbers. The leaves were collected, then each student selected a new leaf and found the corresponding journal page.
Getting to know a place, including its seasonal changes, provides a useful perspective when it comes to asking research questions. An invaluable tool to record and remember discoveries, questions and observations is the field notebook, or nature journal. Developing the habit of collecting data with pencil and paper while exploring the natural world takes ongoing dedication, is deeply personal, and will certainly evolve through the years if one continues the practice (Canfield, 2011, 187-200). Nature journaling techniques that involve close examination of specimens in order to draw them, often reveal details that would have been overlooked with a quick glace or photograph. Indeed, to truly get to know a specific plant species it is hard to imagine an activity more educational than carefully drawing each of its parts.
Foundational to scientific inquiry is the research question, or asking questions within the realm of science. There are plenty of valid and interesting questions that one might ask while pondering the wonders of nature, and it’s important not to shut down inquiry when a question like, “Does it make this tree happy when I climb it?” arise. If limited to knowledge bound by science, one may miss rich worlds of philosophy, spirituality, intuition, and other ways of knowing. Still, once we are ready plot our scientific course it’s useful to remind students that questions should be measurable (Laws & Lygren, 2020, 90-93).
At the start of a student-led wildlife study, one researcher, who had taken time to carefully read the manual and test out the equipment, teaches the other students how to label their memory cards and set up their trail cameras. This project was made possible by a generous grant from the Diack Ecology Education Program.
Research Methods
When guiding young people into the world of field research it is helpful to start with basic techniques and big picture, cross-cutting concepts. Keeping track of important details in a field notebook and not forgetting to record obvious but key information like the date and location takes practice before it becomes routine. Collecting data can be time consuming, but sometimes trying to interpret sloppily recorded field notes can lead to tedious and frustrating hours at home. Finding a doable and interesting research question, taking into account confounding factors, and dealing with the disappointment if all the hard work to apply different treatments on an invasive plant all result in similar outcomes, requires a certain level of maturity and commitment.
Digging into a full-fledged research project requires determination, perseverance, and time, but it is possible to introduce students to the exciting and fun parts without getting bogged down by details. I recently taught a research methods class to elementary and middle school students with the goal of having hands-on experience with sophisticated research equipment without requiring data analysis or report writing.
We practiced collecting samples, and at first, we recorded in our field notebooks all the important metadata. Inspired by collection and observation, but limited in time, we then simplified the process to maintain interest and focus. For the rest of our forest walk we collected whatever samples caught our eyes- and mentioned what we would record if we were doing a research project- but kept it fun and quick so we still had time to investigate them at the end with magnification. Keeping data collection fun and exciting for younger students makes for a useful introduction to scientific inquiry and sets them up for conducting their own research in the future.
Students collect carbon dioxide and pH data from a patch of earth using equipment funded by the Diack Ecology Education Program during a research methods class with Wild Alive Outside.
Student-Led Research
In my experience, homeschoolers have a low tolerance for contrived activities, busywork and doing things for a grade. Any activity, assignment or project needs to be authentically meaningful. While it may be hard to force them to fill out a worksheet recording what we just discussed, they often thrive with open-ended activities and projects they can direct. It’s important to provide the appropriate scaffolding, and offer examples, but I have been impressed by how quickly and enthusiastically students construct their own research projects. As a mentor, I sometimes struggle with finding balance between requiring them to do something ‘right’ and encouraging critical thinking along with a safe place to fail, each of which are valuable learning experiences. Allowing students to take ownership in the learning process enhances the development of scientific thinking.
Once, a student created an elaborate plan to attract birds for his trail camera research project involving dead trees, peanut butter, and bird seed. There was tangible disappointment when the resulting images revealed many more rodents than birds, but it led to a new series of questions as well as an understanding about wildlife activity in that area. Field science is almost always iterative in nature, with new questions emerging from initial data and, ideally, the opportunity to inquire further and collect more data. With guidance and partnership students integrate information while maintaining natural curiosity.
Expanded Educational Support
Last year our outdoor program, Wild Alive Outside, received its first infusion of grant-funded scientific equipment. The Diack Ecology Education Program financed a set a trail cameras for our students to study wildlife activity at the Bear Creek Wilderness. Access to high-quality equipment has been a game changer for our little research group. Students felt empowered to design their own experiments by having full control over one of the trail cameras and two high-capacity memory cards. In addition to learning what wildlife passed through the area of the forest or meadow they selected, they gained experience with organizing and analyzing digital data. For some, it was their first exposure to spreadsheets, and others had to push their edges to patiently examine each of hundreds of photos. After months of data collection and conducting secondary research on one of the many wildlife species they discovered, they created posters to present their findings.
Students carefully measure the water in the rain gauge to determine rainfall over the previous week. Data is later reported to the CoCoRaHS website as part of a nationwide citizen science initiative.
For several years now, each day on the land begins with checking the rain gauge. Because we only visit once per week, we often have several inches of rain to carefully measure and record in the notebook. This simple ritual wakes up scientific thinking: “remember to look straight on before taking a reading,” connects us to what’s been happening while we were away: “no wonder there’s standing water in the meadow,” and gives us access to site-specific long-term data. At the end of the water year, shortly after the start of autumn, we can look back at the data we’ve collected, compare it to previous years, and make predictions for when the rains might come that fall. Additionally, we report our data through a sophisticated citizen science program called CoCoRaHS – Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network with thousands of other citizen scientists across the country. I have found students take data collection quite seriously when they know they are part of a larger community of scientists, all doing their best to produce accurate results.
After tackling a large patch of invasive blackberry bushes, the Weed Warriors celebrate their contribution to protecting the wet meadow in the Bear Creek Wilderness.
The Bear Creek Wilderness and Student Research Forest
My program design is to plant the seeds for creating a student research forest where young people will have ongoing opportunities to learn scientific methods of field research and contribute to an ever-increasing body of knowledge through their own efforts. Just as the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest welcomes graduate students and long-term ecological researchers and has amassed a wealth of knowledge and data about that site, we aim to support young emerging scientists with open minds and creative ideas to connect with place, nature, and make meaningful contributions to science within a community of knowledge seekers. Participants gain foundational skills together as they engage with the land, utilize scientific tools, grow as learners, and share knowledge with each other.
References
Boaler, J. (2015). Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students’ Potential Through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching. Wiley.
Canfield, M. R. (Ed.). (2011). Field Notes on Science and Nature. Harvard University Press.
CoCoRaHS – Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network. Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://www.cocorahs.org/
Diack Ecology Retrieved January 26, 2024, from https://www.diackecology.org/
H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. Retrieved January 26, 2024, from https://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/
Laws, J. M., & Lygren, E. (2020). How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention. Heyday.
Sobel, D. (2008). Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators. Stenhouse Publishers.
In 2019, Jess Lambright started a nature school for homeschool families where once per week kids and parents spend all day outside learning wilderness skills, exploring, developing naturalist knowledge, conducting field studies, and connecting with nature, themselves, and each other. She founded Wild Alive Outside in the summer of 2023 with the goal of getting more youth outdoors to discover wonder and inspiration in the natural world through science, outdoor skills, and wilderness connection.
by editor | Sep 8, 2025 | Marine/Aquatic Education, Questioning strategies
Empowering Their Voices: Students Sound Off on the Puget Sound
by Nancy Skerritt and Kristin Edlund
What makes work truly meaningful? Creating curriculum that harnesses and nurtures the student’s voice is challenging work. We believe that engaging students in real world problems that affect their lives is central to engagement. Grade Nine students in Maple Valley, Washington participate in a unit of study entitled “Sounding Off on the Puget Sound.” The unit provides rich opportunities for our students to learn critical and creative thinking skills, Habits of Mind, and to practice real world problem solving.
The work in the unit is authentic, rigorous, and project based. Students participate in an online digital learning community. All six hundred experience a trip on a Washington State ferry, and they create projects of their own choosing where they “Sound Off” to a self-selected audience. The unit culminates in a call to action where the students research a community service organization for their own involvement, learning what it means to practice civic responsibility.
At the heart of this unit is a shift in voice: Whose voice is heard? In the past, the teacher’s voice has dominated the conversation. Our new model values the student’s voice – not in random or isolated ways, but by carefully orchestrating curricular opportunities. We achieve our curriculum goals by structuring experiences that allow students to find their own voice and build the skills to make their voices heard. How do we accomplish this? We focus on the processes of learning and connect students to their own local community.
One year ago, we made a decision to abandon outdated content in our Grade Nine social studies course and to invite our students to explore the critical issues challenging the health of our Puget Sound. Our unit is designed to teach students how to investigate any issue by considering baseline data, examining this data over time, and making inferences from the data about how our environment is changing.
Students consider the ways in which marine life populations are affected by water quality, the impact on local seafood industries, and projections for how our lifestyle will change if the Sound is allowed to degenerate through pollution and other human interactions. The message is clear: Students can have impact by making their voices heard, taking simple actions like cleaning up after pets, and by getting involved in local com-munity organizations that are designed to improve the quality of our environment for our students today and into the future.
Strategies for Investigating an Issue
Within the structure of the unit, students gather information, interpret this information and then take action. Students investigate stakeholder groups to understand competing wants and needs. They use thinking skills like Point of View and Analysis to explore how human actions and interactions affect the health of the Sound. Drawing on case studies from other 
parts of the country, they learn about the complexity of environmental issues by exploring a parallel issue in the Florida Everglades. The students study the wants and needs of the various stakeholders and search for a solution that takes into account the competing interests.
Students build on this background knowledge to research our local stakeholders: the timber industry, the commercial fishing industry, tourism, recreation, Native American interests, and wildlife. The students are acquiring the thinking skills and Habits of Mind to investigate issues and to draw their own conclusions. A key goal with this unit is to foster critical and creative thinkers who have skills that transfer to any issue, problem, or concern. We believe that these thinking skills lead to empowerment and honor individual points of view.
Problem Solving
The students then use a problem solving model to form their own opinions and ultimately to create an action plan where they can become personally involved in cleaning up the Sound. The model begins by summarizing the situation and crafting a question to focus thinking: “Evidence shows that the Puget Sound is polluted. There are various stakeholders who have vested interests in the future of the Sound. Considering the com-peting interests of preserving our environment, supporting our economic growth, and honoring our culture and traditions, how can the health of the Sound be preserved for a sustainable future? “
After analyzing the interests of the multiple stakeholders, the students develop their own point of view with evidence. Students have applied the thinking skills of Problem Solving, Point of View and Analysis. They have learned and practiced habits of mind such as thinking flexibly and applying past knowledge to new situations. Rather than passively studying a local issue, the students are actively engaged in developing their own point of view so that they can be part of the solution to a complex problem directly affecting the quality of their lives. The learning is relevant and rigorous. Students are respected as young adults with good ideas for improving our world.
Technology for Collaboration
Technology can be a powerful motivator for students when it provides a social context for their learning. In addition to utilizing a variety of technology tools for research and production, students in the Sounding Off unit collaborate creatively in an online learning community.
Web-based tools allow this virtual space to mirror elements of students’ social networks while scaffolding their collaborative skills: students learn to respond professionally and respectfully to one another’s ideas, and to incorporate others’ ideas into their own work responsibly.
Student posts begin as structured responses to prompts and evolve into more spontaneous expressions as the unit progresses. The online venue also provides a record of the class’ learning over time; the history of students’ posts allows the class to reflect on their evolving understanding of complex issues. Students’ individual voices gradually form a chorus in which their distinct tones can still be heard.
For instance, at the beginning of the Sounding Off unit, pairs of students choose one word to express their impression of Puget Sound. They post their word on the class site. As students explore the economic, cultural, and environmental issues facing Puget Sound, they are periodically asked to post additional one-word or one-phrase summaries of their understanding. Students comment and elaborate on each other’s posts, and the growing list of words and phrases generated, along with the support for those summaries, represents an increasingly sophisticated interaction with those issues.
The students are asked midway through the unit to use a web-based video generating tool to create a short video that incorporates images, words and music to express how their perceptions of Puget Sound issues have changed. With technology tools, students apply principles they have learned about how artists use those elements to provoke an emotional response in the public. The videos, in addition to synthesizing the class’ learning up to that point, serve as another opportunity to scaffold student skills, in preparation for the culminating Sounding Off Project.
The online learning community also provides the opportunity to expand the classroom beyond its walls. As students learn about Puget Sound stakeholders, those stakeholders and other experts can join the virtual community and contribute to the students’ learning. Students are empowered by interacting with adults as equal participants in exploring the real issues that affect their lives.
Certainly, technology provides powerful tools for generating creative products. However, in this unit, technology’s true power is found in its ability to foster community – to break down walls between individuals both within the classroom and beyond it. The structure of the online learning community provides a safe place for students to try out their voice, while the widening circle of that community allows them to amplify it.
Field Experiences
While the online learning community provides an engaging virtual experience for students, we find that there is no substitute for engaging students in the real world outside the classroom – for getting up close and personal with the issues. In Sounding Off, this means getting the students down to the waterfront and out on the Sound itself. In an era where field experiences are often the first casualties of budget cuts, we remain committed to these opportunities for all students.
We are equally committed to ensuring that the field experience is one of the most meaningful learning experiences the students will have throughout their educational career. This requires careful planning and orchestration of activities that are integral to the learning goals of the unit.
During the Puget Sound field experience, students engage in activities at two sites: the Seattle Aquarium and on board a Washington State Ferry. At the aquarium, students explore the marine habitat and the wildlife that calls the Sound home. They use their field journals to make observations, compare and contrast, generate questions, and pose problems.
On board the ferry, students hear from stakeholders representing different interests related to the health of Puget Sound. The stakeholder’s interest might be economic, environmental, or cultural/historical. Students have the opportunity to interact with stakeholders who might represent state fisheries, non-profit habitat restoration organizations, Native American tribes, large shellfish corporations, or others.
To prepare for the field experience, students research the stakeholders and their points of view in advance, generating questions in their field journals. On the ferry, students use their field journals to organize information around key thinking skills. Both at the aquarium and on the water, students use their field journals and cameras to capture evidence regarding the economic, environmental, and cultural/historical aspects of Puget Sound.
While our community sits right in the Puget Sound’s watershed, this field experience represents the first time many of our students have ever actually been out on the water. The powerful impact of this opportunity is evident in students’ reflective letters to stakeholders and in the way the field experience continues to influence student thinking well after it has ended. Interacting personally with the Sound’s stakeholders while out on the Sound itself is an experience that can’t be replicated in the school building.
Sounding Off! Project
The Sounding Off! Project provides a framework for students to make their voices heard. Using the structure for projects provided by Ted McCain in his book Teaching for Tomorrow, students work as a member of a team. They design projects for the purpose of raising awareness about the health of the Puget Sound. The projects educate and call their audiences to action. Students choose their message and their target audience. Then they select a medium that will best communicate their message. They manage their team and project in the online learning community.
The projects vary widely based on the audience, medium and message. For example, one project team might create a picture book for kindergartners showing strategies for home water conservation while another team might create a video podcast to highlight the importance of habitat conservation to share with our legislators. Students are encouraged to use their individual talents to make a statement. They present their project to their chosen audience, “sounding off” on the state of the Puget Sound and sharing how people’s actions can make a difference.
Choice is at the heart of this project, and students exercise their creativity and their passions as they communicate with an authentic audience about the state of the Sound. Projects have included a website for learning about the danger of bulkheads, paintings that depict the past, present and future of the Sound, movies to promote stewardship, poetry, and children’s games.
Community Service
The unit culminates with the students investigating community service organizations, exploring answers to these questions: What is community service? Why is it important? How is service a component of citizenship? Students research community organizations that are involved in cleaning up the Puget Sound. They study the mission of the different organizations, and using a decision making model, they select an organization in which to become involved. Students contact the organization of their choice, learn about the organization’s service projects, and then commit to involvement in one of these projects. Students reflect on their participation by considering how they are making a difference in promoting the sustainability of the Puget Sound . They are doing real work that has value beyond the classroom and can take pride in making contributions to their community.
Engagement leads to empowerment. We want to graduate students who know that they can make a difference and have the tools to act. Learning must be relevant and real. Our students discover how they can take action to have impact. This life lesson will last long beyond the accumulation of content. Students learn problem solving, decision making, persistence, and interdependence. They practice civic involvement through a call to action. Our democracy relies on involved citizens, and our students learn that they have empowered voices through their study of the Puget Sound. They develop the awareness that what we do today does indeed make a difference for the future.
How do we know that these kinds of learning opportunities are more meaningful for our students than traditional approaches?
We’re listening to their voices.
For more information about the Sounding Off on the Puget Sound unit, please contact Nancy Skerritt in the Tahoma School District at nskerrit@tahomasd.us
References:
Costa, A. and Kallick, B. (2009) Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind. Alexandria: ASCD
McCain, T. (2005) Teaching For Tomorrow: Teaching Content and Problem Solving Skills. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press
Nancy Skerritt, the Director of the Teaching and Learning Department, has been with the Tahoma District for 9 years. She previously worked in the Snoqualmie and Auburn School Districts. One of her most interesting assignments has been the development of the Elementary Core Curriculum in the Tahoma district. She has expertise in thinking skills instruction and she works with the Washington State Commission on Student Learning to assist with the design and implementation of the Washington State assessment system.
Kristin Edlund is a curriculum specialist in the Tahoma School District in Washington State and author of the middle school Habits of Mind curriculum. She has written social studies units that integrate the Habits of Mind and thinking skills, and she supports teachers in implementing this curriculum in the classroom. Edlund teaches classes in integrated curriculum, thinking skills, and Habits of Mind throughout western Washington and has presented at numerous state and national conferences. She worked as a teacher-librarian for 12 years before entering administration. She can be reached at the Tahoma School District office at kedlund@tahomasd.us.
by editor | Sep 7, 2025 | Conservation & Sustainability, Critical Thinking, Environmental Literacy, Experiential Learning, Learning Theory, Questioning strategies, Service learning, Sustainability
Empowering Elementary Students through Environmental Service-Learning
by Eileen Merritt, Tracy Harkins and Sara Rimm-Kaufman
“We use electricity when we don’t need to.”
“When we use electricity we use fossil fuels and fossil fuels pollute the air and fossil fuels are nonrenewable.”
“We use too many non-renewable resources to make energy.”
“One problem that we have with the way that we use energy is that we often taken it for granted, leaving lights on when it’s unnecessary, and plugging in chargers without using them.”
“We are literally putting pollution on the blanket of the earth!?”
The problems listed above were identified by fourth grade students in the midst of an environmental service-learning unit. These powerful words, and many similar ideas shared with us by other fourth grade children, show that children care a lot about our planet. They notice when we waste resources, pollute our air, water or land, or cause harm to other living things. Their concerns must be heard, to motivate others to confront the environmental crises that we are facing today. Greta Thunberg has recently demonstrated how powerful one young voice can be, mobilizing people around the world to take action on climate change.
How can educators help students develop skills to be change agents, offering creative and feasible solutions to problems they see around them? Service-learning is one powerful way to build students’ knowledge and skills as they learn about issues that matter to them. Recently, we worked with a group of urban public school teachers to support implementation of environmental service-learning projects in their classrooms. In environmental service-learning, students apply academic knowledge and skills as they work together to address environmental problems. High quality service-learning, according to the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), provides opportunities for students to have a strong voice in planning, implementing and evaluating projects with guidance from adults and engages students in meaningful and personally relevant service activities that address content standards (NYLC, 2008). We designed Connect Science, a curriculum and professional development program, with these goals in mind (Harkins, Merritt, Rimm-Kaufman, Hunt & Bowers, 2019). As we have analyzed student data from this research study, we have been inspired by the strength of conviction that students conveyed when they spoke about the environment and the creative solutions they generated for problems they noticed. In this article, we describe key elements of lessons that fostered student agency (see Table 1). First, two vignettes below exemplify service-learning projects from two classrooms.
In another classroom, students launched a campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastic containers at their school. They made posters to educate others about single-use plastics, explaining how they were made from petroleum (see Figure 1). Students and teachers in their school were encouraged to take a pledge to use reusable water bottles, containers and utensils in their lunches. Sign-up sheets were placed near posters around the school. Several hundred people took the pledge.
What both groups have in common is that they participated in a science unit about energy and natural resources. In the first part of the unit, they discovered problems as they learned about different energy sources and how these energy sources produce electricity. They began to recognize that fossil fuels that are used for transportation, electricity production and plastic products, and that their use causes some problems. This awareness motivated them to take action. Later in the unit, each class honed in on a specific problem that they cared about and chose a solution. Below, we summarize steps taken throughout the unit that empowered students.
1 Choose an environmental topic and help students build knowledge
Students need time to develop a deep understanding of the content and issues before they choose a problem and solution. Many topics are a good fit for environmental service-learning. Just identify an environmental topic in your curriculum. Our unit centered around NGSS core idea ESS3A: How do humans depend on earth’s resources? (National Research Council, 2012). Students participated in a series of lessons designed to help them understand energy concepts and discover resource-related problems. These lessons can be found on our project website: connectscience.org/lessons. Fourth grade students are capable of understanding how the energy and products they use impact the planet (Merritt, Bowers & Rimm-Kaufman, 2019), so why not harness their energy for the greater good?
There are many other science concepts from NGSS that can be addressed through environmental service-learning. For example, LS4.D is about biodiversity and humans, and focuses on the central questions: What is biodiversity, how do humans affect it, and how does it affect humans? Environmental service-learning can be used to address College, Career and Civic Life (C3) standards from dimension 4, taking informed action such as D4.7 (grades 3-5): Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict some possible results of their actions (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013). Language arts and mathematics standards can also be taught and applied within a service-learning unit.
2 Generate a list of related problems that matter to students
Partway through the unit, each class started a list of problems to consider for further investigation. Collecting or listing problems that kids care about is an effective way to get a pulse on what matters to students. Fourth graders’ concerns fit into three broad categories:
• Pollution (air, water or land)
People need to stop littering. Before you even throw everything on the floor, think about it in your head… should I recycle, reuse? I can probably reuse this…
• Not causing harm to people, animals or the environment
Plastic bags suffocate animals.
• Wasting resources (e.g. electricity, natural resources or money)
If people waste energy, then their bill will get high and it will just be a waste of money.
Co-creating a visible list for students to see and think about legitimizes their concerns and may help them develop a sense of urgency to take action.
3 Collectively identify an important problem
The next step was for students to choose ONE problem for the upcoming service-learning project. Each teacher read the list of problems aloud, and students could cast three votes for the problems that they cared about the most. They could cast all 3 votes for one problem, or distribute their votes. Most teachers used this process to narrow in on one problem for their class to address. One teacher took it a step further by allowing small groups to work on different problems. Either way, allowing students to CHOOSE the problem they want to work on fueled their motivation for later work on solutions. Different classes honed in on problems such as wasting electricity, single-use plastics, foods being transported a long distance when they could be grown locally, and lack of recycling in their communities.
4 Explore possible solutions and teach decision-making skills
Students were introduced to three different ways that citizens can take action and create change. They can work directly on a problem, educate others in the community about the issue or work to influence decision-makers on policy to address the problem. They broadened their perspective on civic engagement as they brainstormed solution ideas in each of these categories. After deciding to work on the problem of lights left on when not in use, one class generated the following list of possibilities for further investigation (see Figure 2)
After considering ways to have an impact, students were ready to narrow in on a solution. Teachers introduced students to three criteria for a good solution. This critical step provides students with decision-making skills, and helps them take ownership of their solution. Our fourth graders considered the following guiding questions in a decision-making matrix:
- Is the solution going to have a positive impact on our problem?
- Is the solution feasible?
- Do you care a lot about this? (Is it important to the group?)
At times, this process prompted further research to help them really consider feasibility. Of course, teachers needed to weigh in too, since ultimately they were responsible for supporting students as they enact solutions. When discussing impact, it’s important to help students understand that they don’t have to SOLVE the problem—the goal is to make progress or have an impact, however small.
While many groups chose the same problem, each class designed their own unique solution. Most focused on educating others about the topic that mattered to them, using a variety of methods: videos, posters, announcements, presentations to other students or administrators, and an energy fair for other members of the school community. The process of educating others about an issue can help consolidate learning (Hattie & Donoghue, 2016). Some groups took direct action in ways such as improving the school recycling program or getting others to pledge to use less electronics or less plastic (as described above). These direct actions are very concrete to upper elementary school children since impacts are often more visible.
5 Support students as they enact solutions
Social and emotional skills were addressed throughout the unit. During project implementation, teachers supported students as they applied those skills. Students developed self-management skills by listing tasks, preparing timelines and choosing roles to get the job done. At the end of the unit, students reflected on the impact that they made, and what they could do to have a larger impact. One group of students noticed that every single student in their class switched from plastic to reusable water bottles. Another student felt that their class had convinced people not to waste electricity. Some groups recognized that their solution wasn’t perfect, and wished they could have done more. For elementary students, it’s important to emphasize that any positive change makes a difference. Critical thinking skills develop when students can compare solutions and figure out which ones work the best and why. The instructional strategies described in this article have been used by educators across grade levels and subjects for other service-learning projects, and can be adapted for different purposes (KIDS Consortium, 2011).
Student-designed solutions yield deeper learning
One challenge that teachers faced when implementing environmental service-learning was that it took time to work on projects after the core disciplinary lessons, and curriculum maps often try to fast forward learning. Deeper learning occurred when teachers carved out time for service-learning projects, allowing students to apply what they know to a problem that mattered to them. There are always tradeoffs between breadth and depth, but ultimately students will remember lessons learned through experiences where they worked on a challenging problem and tried their own solution. School leaders can work with teachers to support them in finding time for deeper learning experiences. The students that we worked with cared a lot about protecting organisms and ecosystems, conserving resources and reducing pollution. They had many wonderful ideas for solutions that involved direct action, education or policy advocacy. For example, one student suggested the following solution for overuse of resources, “Go out and teach kids about animals losing homes and people polluting the world.” The voices of children around the country can be amplified through civic engagement initiatives such as environmental service-learning. Citizens of all ages are needed to actively engage in work toward solutions for climate change. Why not help them begin in elementary years?
References
Harkins, T., Merritt, E., Rimm-Kaufman, S.E., Hunt, A. & Bowers, N. (2019). Connect Science. Unpublished Manual. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia, Arizona State University & Harkins Consulting, LLC.
Hattie, J. A. & Donoghue, G. M. (2016). Learning strategies: A synthesis and conceptual model. Science of Learning, 1, 1-13.
KIDS Consortium. (2011). KIDS as planners: A guide to strengthening students, schools and communities through service-learning. Waldoboro, ME: KIDS Consortium.
Merritt, E., Bowers, N. & Rimm-Kaufman, S. (2019). Making connections: Elementary students’ ideas about electricity and energy resources. Renewable Energy, 138, 1078-1086.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). The college, career, and civic life (C3) framework for social studies state standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K-12 civics, economics, geography, and history. Silver Spring, Md.: NCSS. Accessible online at www.socialstudies.org/C3.
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts and core ideas. Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New K-12 Science Education Standards. Board on Science Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
National Youth Leadership Council. (2008). K-12 service-learning standards for quality practice. St. Paul, MN: NYLC.
Acknowledgements:
The research described in this article was funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (R305A150272). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the funding agency. We are grateful to the educators, students and colleagues who shared their ideas throughout the project.
Eileen Merritt is a research scientist in the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech and former Assistant Professor in Teacher Preparation at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. She developed her passion for environmental education along the banks of the Rivanna River with her students at Stone-Robinson Elementary. She can be reached at egmerritt@vt.edu.
Tracy Harkins, of Harkins Consulting LLC, works nationally guiding educational change. Tracy provides service-learning professional development and resources to educators to engage and motivate student learners. https://www.harkinsconsultingllc.com/
Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman is a Professor of Education in Educational Psychology – Applied Developmental Science at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She conducts research on social and emotional learning in elementary and middle school classrooms to provide roadmaps for administrators and teachers making decisions for children.
