Nature Centers help kids understand and relate to the environment.
by Suzanne Koup-Larsen
An escape from cyberspace,” is how development director Janet O’Leary describes the gardens at Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, PA.
With 46 acres of quiet woodlands and botanical displays nestled in the center of the bustling
Rte. 202 corridor, Jenkins and other nature centers throughout the Delaware Valley proudly preserve open spaces, seeking to reconnect kids and families with the natural world.
Ways to Connect
One way to connect children with the Earth is through their mouths. In 2006, the Awbury Arboretum in Philadelphia’s Germantown section began offering eight-week gardening programs that teach kids about healthy snacks the garden can provide.
Coverdale Farm in Greenville, DE, plans a new nutrition program this year. Students will plant vegetables, receive updates on their new plants’ growth through a photo diary and then in the fall will harvest and eat food from the garden.
The intent is to help kids understand where food comes from, then parlay those insights into interest
in healthy eating — good ammunition in the fight against childhood obesity.
Students also connect with their environment through historical lessons about local Native American predecessors. At Tyler Arboretum in Media, PA, the “Land of Lenape” program teaches respect for the environment through lessons on the culture of the Lenape tribe. At Abbott’s Mill Nature Center in Milford, DE, several age-appropriate programs explain how Delaware’s Native Americans used tools, plants and the land in preparation for each season.
In the late winter, maple sugar programs at several local nature centers teach kids how breakfast syrup is produced. Most city and suburban kids don’t connect how sap from trees becomes the syrup in the bottle sitting on their breakfast table. During the maple sugaring lessons, kids learn to identify maple trees using their senses. Then they learn how the trees grow, they get a hands-on look at tapping trees for sap, and the subsequent process of boiling the sap into sugar and tasty syrup.
Educational Approaches
Environmental educators favor a hands-on approach to capture kids’ interest, but they try to accommodate every learning style. “Some need to see it. Some people need to touch it. Some people need both,” says Helen Fischel, the Delaware Nature Society’s associate education director. As a result, the Society offers kids tools such as binoculars, microscopes, radio tracking and GPS devices, to provide real world science experiences.
At Tyler Arboretum, program leaders use props such as bird beaks and mounted butterflies to make lessons interactive, but getting outdoors to see the real thing is the highest priority.
Program leaders at Awbury Arboretum say whether it’s the sight of a fish being eaten or guano (bat droppings), observing nature gets the educational conversation started. As a result, “the students leave with science knowledge in spite of themselves,” says Jennifer Karsten, Awbury’s education manager.
Similarly, environmental educators at the New Jersey Audubon Society encourage kids to utilize their senses and observe a nature setting before starting a lesson. “Let them experience things first, then do the lesson after,” says teacher/naturalist Jaime Corbett at the Rancocas Nature Center in Mount Holly, NJ. According to Corbett, this approach makes the experience more personal and therefore more memorable.
Keep It Down, Teach!
By contrast, many environmental educators would like to remind teachers and chaperones not to detract from the experience by shouting out answers or stepping in to help kids finish their assigned field trip projects. It seems obvious, but program leaders say they often experience this problem.
The point of a nature field trip is to let kids experience the environment for themselves. It is also important, say nature center staffers, to prepare students with a mindset that the field trip will be a learning experience; a day out of the classroom is not equivalent to a day off at a theme park.
Also, because nature centers like to conduct their lessons outside, parents and teachers must make sure kids are dressed appropriately on the day of the field trip. Except in hot weather, layers are usually a good idea.
Nature centers work every day to instill a sense of connectedness in children when they visit on field trips. They want kids to come away with a greater appreciation for the environment. Betsy Ney, director of public programs at Tyler Arboretum says the main lesson she wants to impart is that, “the environment is a precious resource and we’re responsible for it.”
Jaime Corbett of the New Jersey Audubon Society seeks to instill a “sense of responsibility and stewardship for the environment.”
Environmental educators hope that in connecting kids with nature, they are motiving students to become educated and responsible citizens of their world.
Suzanne Koup-Larsen is a local freelance writer.