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You
are here: Audubon: Connecting People with Nature
A century ago Andrew Carnegie understood that reading was vital to making our democracy work. He set out to develop a network of libraries in communities across the country, making books available to people close to home. He eventually established nearly 2,000 libraries in the United States, with the expectation that the local communities would continue supporting them.
At Audubon we believe that understanding our environment and the relationship between people and nature will be as important in this new century as literacy was at the beginning of the last century. By creating a network of Audubon Centers across the country we can ensure broad access to environmental education and experiences. Our goal is to serve one in four schoolchildren annually in urban, suburban, and rural communities across America.
The National Audubon Society has been the leader in developing and presenting educational programs for nearly a century. From in-school programs and nature center field-studies to publications and television shows, our education venues have run the gamut. Nationwide, the Audubon Adventures program has demonstrated its credibility and longevity by serving seven million students over the past 15 years. Last year, nearly one million people visited Audubon Centers, many of whom were students participating in our education programs.
The United States trails many other nations in student performance in the areas of science, math and technology. The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century's latest report succinctly states the need for improved student performance in these areas. "The rapid change in both the global economy and the American workplace demands widespread mathematics and science-related knowledge and abilities. Our citizens need both math and science for their every-day decision making . . . mathematics and science are the primary sources of lifelong learning and the progress of our civilization."
Nationally recognized expert organizations, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, have consistently urged teachers and schools to take science "out of the textbook and into reality." The practical application of science and the scientific method, especially when focused on subject matter or issues connected to students' lives, results in a marked increase in test scores and overall comprehension. Students learn to "do science" rather than "learn about it."
Photo by Gary Leonard
The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation issued a report in September 2000, with case statements from more than 40 schools in 12 states where environmental education curricula were imbedded as the focus of the school's required science standards. The results were impressive. In Wisconsin, all students involved in environmental education passed the Reading Comprehension Test, compared to only 25 percent of the total school population. In North Carolina, 4th grade students involved in environmental education achieved a 31 percent increase in math tests in one year. In Minnesota, students participating in environmental education scored higher in ACT tests than their peers in the district, state and the nation.
Education and Environment (K-12) programs build a strong connection between environmental education and the formal K-12 education sectors. Recent research shows that schools using their built, natural and cultural environments as learning tools can significantly enhance academic achievement by giving a natural boost to learning. Schools also find environmental programs highly useful in after-school programs that reinforce academics and reduce less desirable behaviors, violence and crime.
The programs featured at an Audubon Center are determined by, and adapted to, the special needs and interest of the community and the site where it is located. In this way, each Audubon Center reflects the unique character of its community and its school systems. Programs are developed through collaboration among informal science education programmers, educators, teachers, naturalists and scientists. Program venues include:
· Multi-session Field Trips
· After school programs
· Weekend workshops
· Weekday programs
· Evening programs
· Outreach programs
· Summer Camps
· Community Service programs
· Intern and research programs
· Teacher development & in-service programs
· Community Events/FestivalsAudubon Centers emphasize site-based education: programs that focus on teaching about the environment, in the environment. They emphasize field programs for a range of audiences, including young children, teens, families, and adults, using participatory, concept-based methodology, and provide a range of science-based programs for all ages designed to take each participant to a higher level of knowledge, understanding, and action.
Photo by Gary Leonard
At Audubon we believe in learning by doing. Audubon Centers teach through active participation, engaging people rather than "telling" them. All Audubon education programs are based on solid science, utilizing the most accurate and current information. All Audubon programs incorporate these primary components:
· They take place OUTDOORS
· They are PERSONALIZED for students' backgrounds and learning styles
· They include SOCIAL activities that encourage interaction and cooperation
· They are based in SCIENCE, regardless of the discipline utilized to teach the topic
· They strive to use the INQUIRY-based method of learning and are always "hands-on"
· They lead to ACTION, during the program and afterwardsMost of the programs at Audubon centers are carefully designed to meet national and local performance standards in Science, Math, and Technology. Others meet standards in Reading, Social Studies and Art. Ultimately, our goal is to improve critical thinking skills and scientific literacy through inquiry-based interaction among scientists, children, and adults in a cross-generation, multi-disciplinary approach in community green spaces.
Photo by Gary Leonard
Here are some examples of education programs taking place currently at Audubon Centers:
Audubon New Mexico – One of Audubon New Mexico's most successful and popular programs is the 5th Grade Ecology program, which is offered free to low-income schools. The city of Santa Fe provides a grant that covers this program, which is four days long, and takes place in the school and schoolyard, as well as at the Randall Davey Audubon Center. During the program, students work from a bilingual journal in which they make observations, record data, and compare/contrast elements in their schoolyard with those at the Audubon center. Students learn about habitat, producers, consumers, decomposers, and the important role they play in maintaining a healthy environment for other animals and plants. They discuss the human impact on the surrounding area, especially along the Santa Fe River, and through an art project students propose solutions they can carry out to meet the environmental problems discussed.
Audubon New York – The Prospect Park Audubon Center is the lead partner for a new small public science magnet high school in Brooklyn, New York. This school began in the fall of 2003, with all 125 freshmen visiting the Audubon Center on a weekly basis to complete their science labs through park-based field study. All labs have been rewritten to utilize the real-world context of the park's ecosystem, and year-end projects will incorporate local conservation challenges. In addition to co-teaching field study, Audubon Center staff provide teacher training, administrative support, and other technical assistance – including the design of portions of the curricula that take place at the Center.
Audubon California – The Audubon Center at Debs Park is located in a 282-acre city park in East Los Angeles. Nearly 50,000 children live within two miles of the Center. The focus of the center is family-oriented educational programming, particularly inter-generational methodologies. Literature, signage and many programs are offered in Spanish. Self-guided discovery backpacks lead families on an exploratory tour through the trail system. A children's garden incorporates family activities to gardening, supporting wildlife and the interdependence of living things.
Audubon Ohio – Aullwood Audubon Center's READS is an innovative program linking at-risk students enrolled in an after-school program with volunteers and/or employees from area businesses and Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm. This model initiative, for twenty children in 2nd and 3rd grades, integrates reading and writing skills with hands-on experiences in nature and farming. Children who are enrolled in an after-school learning program visit Aullwood once a week for 90-minute sessions during a four-month period. Aullwood naturalists provide hands-on learning experiences for the children at Aullwood's nature center and organic farm. Adult volunteers tutor children, helping them read books on nature or farming that relate to that day's hands-on, outdoor activities in order to improve their reading skills and attitudes toward reading.
Audubon in Wisconsin – In September 2003 the Schlitz Audubon Center opened a new nature preschool, and began to introduce more than 100 three and four year-olds to the wonders of nature. The nature preschool provides premier early-childhood educational experiences filled with outdoor discoveries and hand-on learning. The school connects the local neighborhood to the center and provides at-home learning activities to the parents of the children.
Audubon Florida – Growing Our Own Conservation Leaders targets high school and college students in predominantly African American communities in the greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. Focusing on community outreach to support the restoration of the Everglades, the program involves students in field studies, scientific research, mentoring younger students and public forums that promote conservation of local resources. The program also addresses enhancing relevant life skills for the teen participants such as: college readiness, community service, scholarship and career advancement, resume writing /interviewing techniques, technology, public presentations, leadership and networking. Participants evidence consistent grade-point improvement, higher than average scholarship awards and an increased interest in pursuing a conservation or environmental focus in college course selection and career paths.
Audubon New York – For the Birds! is a school-based education program that has reached more than 8,000 students in underserved, inner-city communities through out New York City. It teaches science, environmental awareness and appreciation of nature through the study of birds. During a 7 or 14-week session, public school students learn about their environment through classroom lessons, outdoor field trips, and conservation and/or stewardship project designed to provide bird habitat in the local community. For the Birds! exposes students, usually for the first time, to the idea that their own neighborhoods provide valuable habitat to birds and other urban wildlife. Classes involved in the program consistently win district-wide science fairs and several participant schools have won citywide awards for neighborhood clean-ups and stewardship.
Audubon Washington – Over the next two years the Tahoma Audubon Center will develop a "Place Based Conservation" program. The goal of the program is to build the understanding, knowledge and activism for the natural environment in underserved communities, connecting people with nature in their backyards. Community partners will include local universities, K-12 schools, community and conservation groups, Native American tribal leadership, as well as government entities from the state and local level. In collaboration with the partners, Audubon will be focusing on biologically diverse areas of the county, which contain core reserves that should be managed specifically for wildlife species diversity. Research projects will be developed in schools and classrooms. This will create a link between schools and the community, scientists and government, and will invest everyone in the protection of these areas.
Science, as seen in the classroom or through the media, may be perceived as abstract or irrelevant to a student's (or teacher's!) daily life. At Audubon Centers, we show both audiences that the scientific process can be fun, exciting, relevant and actually produce tangible benefits in one's own neighborhood, by doing science. By linking students of all ages and backgrounds directly with their local green spaces, we foster science literacy, environmental awareness, and a stewardship ethic. We empower students with knowledge, life-skills, a sense of wonder about the natural world, and a sense of pride about their neighborhood. In doing so, we help to accomplish our mission: to protect birds, other wildlife and their habitats.
Chuck Remington, flanked by family, in front of the Prospect Park Audubon Center.
Chuck Remington is Director of Field Support for the National Audubon Society's Centers and Education department. Previously, he was Director of Education for Audubon New York, where he led the team that opened the organization's first urban center, in Brooklyn. Chuck has also worked in various education capacities at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the San Diego Zoo and the New England Aquarium
Contact Chuck via email by sending a message to lvanderveer@audubon.org. It would be helpful to type "Chuck Remington" in the subject heading.
For more information about Audubon Centers, please visit: http://www.audubon.org/local/sanctuary/index.html
©June 2004 New Horizons for Learning
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