Lessons from the Field
Five Ways Outdoor School Programs Transform Learning: A Back-to-School Guide for Teachers
Outdoor environmental education programs like NatureBridge offer a unique and transformative approach to engaging students. A recent study by the Stanford University and the North American Association for Environmental Education shows that overnight outdoor school can have profound impacts on students by improving their academic and emotional development. Here are five ways outdoor school programs can advance your students’ learning this school year.
Fighting Fire with Fire Science
NatureBridge created a fire ecology curriculum to educate, inform and transform student perception of fire so that future generations of scientists and stewards would contribute to this vital field. Part of the fire ecology curriculum is to balance people’s lived experience with the complex nature of fire. Though the increase in fires due to climate change-related factors is alarming, fires in and of themselves are part of a healthy forest ecosystem. For the students who learn fire ecology through NatureBridge, reframing their mindset to think about living with fire can be one of the most profound impacts of the program.
Kids in the Wild: 50 Years of Risk Management at NatureBridge
"I used to ice climb quite a bit and often without a rope. In 1998, I took a 100 foot fall...and I was in a wheelchair for months. I also shattered my femur and broke my shoulder a year ago in a really bad paragliding accident in Mexico. So...yeah, I’ve banged up a few things.”
Listening to these injuries listed off one after another, it’s easy to believe you’re hearing from an X-Games athlete or a professional adrenaline junkie; a thrill-seeker and risk-taker of the highest order. Who you’re actually hearing from is Jeff Crow, NatureBridge’s Director of Risk Management.
Lessons from the Field: Bay Area Marine Life, Rescue and Rehabilitation
In this week's Lessons From the Field, we learn about local Bay Area marine life from NatureBridge's Rachel Loud as she shares about her more than a decade of volunteer experience with The Marine Mammal Center.
Lessons From the Field: Ethnobotany With John
In this week's Lessons From the Field, we hear from John Conant of NatureBridge at Golden Gate on all things ethnobotany and the importance of respecting and understanding the deeply rooted traditions associated with the plants of the Marin Headlands.
Lessons From the Field: Happy Isles Fen
In this week's Lessons From the Field, NatureBridge Operations Manager Jenn Peach takes us through the Happy Isles Fen—a rare example of a fen ecosystem in the Yosemite Valley.
Lessons From The Field: The Frog Blog
In this week's Lessons From the Field series, NatureBridge educator Nessarose Schear shares her experience working on the National Park Service restoration project of the Mountain and Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, the sister parks of Yosemite.
