Outdoor Experiences are Lasting Experiences

After reading the postings lately, I also have thought back retrospectively in my teaching experiences. I have to say that most of my students that come back to talk ALWAYS refer to some outdoor experience we had – whether it was a simple trip to seine a local pond, or if it was developing a nature trail by the school. I am always asking how they are doing in college and they seem to doing fine, but they want to recall the funny experiences and the eye-opening experiences that they had when we were outside during class. I also remember my most memorable science experiences and they all revolve around outdoor learning experiences – field trips, birding trips, etc… I do think there are some “basic” concepts that build up the questioning ability of students. I try quite a few “inquiry” labs but I believe they are more guided inquiry than actual inquiry. Learning and loving science should go hand in hand, in my opinion(it doesn’nt always work that way). Anyway, I too, was at the KABT board meeting and I would also have to repeat how enriching it is to visit, question, and discuss biology with great teachers that love what they are doing. The more blogging interaction we can continue the better for all of the biology teachers that visit this site.