D2_Agraria_Journal_21_OPT

Nature-Based Education DURING A PANDEMIC BY DAVID DIAMOND 34 AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 What does a center built around experiential learning have to offer during a pandemic? How can we reach students in public schools when they and their teachers are all working from home and no field trips are allowed? Our education team pondered these questions last summer as we reached out to each other through the phone and internet. Very quickly, Meredith Florkey dreamed up The Big Map-Out!, our first piece of remote education curriculum. Designed as a flexible program that students can do from home, at school, or both, The Big Map-Out! challenges students to develop their own relationship with their outdoor space, whether it is a schoolyard, backyard, or a patch of sidewalk near their home. Sarah Amin, the Project-Based Learning Foundations teacher for grades K-3 at Mills Lawn Elementary in Yellow Springs adopted the program for all 180 of her students. The students study one feature of their space followed by another—soil, trees, mammals, landmarks, arthropods, etc.—recording their reflections in a journal and gradually filling a map over the course of the entire school year. Meredith moved on from Agraria in order to devote more time to her nature education consulting business, and our education staff continued the program. Each week, we sent Sarah a lesson plan and a video, and the results have been transformative. Since all Yellow Springs students were remote for the majority of the school year, The Big Map- Out! allowed them to get away from their computers and closer to the natural world than distance-learning would normally require. Students from all grades submitted wonderful pictures and videos to show their progress, and Sarah said that the program helped her reconnect with nature in a way that she hasn’t for years. The success of The Big Map-Out! has inspired us to expand the program, both by reaching up to 6th- or MIAMI VALLEY SCHOOL & DAVID DIAMOND Students from the Miami Valley School in Dayton moved the chicken tractor during their four-day residency at Agraria. They also planted a garden, pulled garlic mustard and learned about soil health and water quality. Toad bracelets were all the rage at Nature Camp during mating season for Eastern Singing Toads on Agraria.