Prairie Site Field Trip with Preschool
In early October, students from the Methods for Young Children, Science Methods and Environmental Geology courses took a field trip with Crete pre-schoolers to Doane's Aldrich Prairie Research site near Grafton. They spent the morning in outdoor lessons. From looking at caterpillars under a magnifying class to catching tadpoles they will study throughout the life cycle, the day provided fun outdoor education for the youngsters and valuable teaching experience for Doane students.
The field trip was one of the most recent examples of Doane's Learning Communities -- courses and concepts that give students the unique opportunity to experience how subjects and ideas are interconnected. The experiences link students, faculty and courses from different disciplines to each other and to leadership opportunities.
Jackie Florendo, adjunct instructor in education, Rod Diercks, associate professor of education, and Russ Souchek, associate professor of biology and geology, planned the event after reading research on the value of outdoor classrooms. They envisioned a field-trip based teaching experience that would also integrate the environmental geology course.
The integrated curriculum used the expertise of each class and provided lessons in nature, something research confirms is a valuable component of education. "We are trying to provide experiences for Doane students and young children from Crete that develop greater knowledge of and appreciation for nature," Diercks said.
According to Diercks, this learning community was created because the more students learn about the world through direct experiences with nature the more they will bear responsibility for caring for the earth.
"Research indicates that students who have these early collaborative experiences with nature and then continue to have these integrated experiences are cognitively, socially, and physically two-to-three years ahead of their peers who do not have them by the time they are 15 or 16," Diercks said.
The Aldrich Prairie Research site consists of about 50 acres of wetland and prairie and also includes a black-tailed prairie dog colony.
"We saw some wonderful things with the kids," Florendo said of the morning with preschool students from Crete Public Schools, Head Start and Blue River Family Resource Center. "All students - both Doane and the young preschoolers - acquired a valuable learning experience."
Doane instructors hope to continue and expand the outdoor field trips. The field trip was a first for Doane students and was possible through a partnership with Crete Public Schools and Blue Valley Community Action Head Start.