News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters schools and the Sisters Ranger District have created a 160-acre outdoor classroom where students will learn about everything from biology to literature to public policy.
"I think the model is... the most powerful educational model I've ever seen," Sisters High School principal Boyd Keyser told a gathering of educators and Forest Service personnel on Wednesday, February 2.
The school district is developing a curriculum including the sciences, social studies, physical education and English and the arts focusing on study of lands west of the high school managed by the schools under a conservation easement.
The land is part of a larger parcel acquired from Deschutes County to be the site of a future school campus.
The Forest Service will provide guest instructors, internship opportunities and other support to the project. The school district and the Sisters Ranger District co-wrote a grant to get part of a $1 million fund set aside by Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck for conservation education.
The study program will cover kindergarten through 12th grade and become part of a "Certificate of Advanced Mastery" program (CAM). Students working toward a CAM chose an area of study -- such as natural resources -- where they develop projects and gain related "real world" career experience.
Teacher Rand Runco noted that the district already has several programs such as the Outdoor School for middle school kids that tap the area's rich resources for educational and recreational opportunities. Creating a full curriculum, he believes, will "tie it all up in an end product."
Teachers plan to combine programs so that English students will learn about nature writing, "journaling" and public speaking, while at the same time learning about the politics of natural resources in their government classes and about outdoor recreation in their physical education programs.
One participant in the meeting noted that ecological studies bring in "hard" academics in a way that is more accessible for students. They might require statistical analysis or chemistry beyond what students would experience in the classroom and children are motivated to learn because they need the knowledge for what they are doing on the land.
Keyser believes that taking the classroom outdoors is vital to combating what he calls a "disconnect" between children and nature.
"We're fighting MTV, we're fighting Nintendo, we're fighting hours in front of the Internet," he said. "I fear that if we do not put these things in place (educationally) we're going to lose these kids to the gadgetry of the 21st Century."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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