Louv Part V

In Part Five, Louv talks a lot about bringing the classroom outside. I thought about days in Biology class where we'd go stomp around outside in the woods around my school in the Poconos. Now living in Philly and thinking more about the Philadelphia School District, I realize that this ability was a great advantage. Even the fact that we had tons of buses and could bus students to places like the cranberry bog is something that I took for granted. But these field trips only happened in Honors-type courses. At a school that is not doing so well academically, average classes are pelted with state testing preparation and try not to deviate from the basic curriculum.

In the Philadelphia school system, I doubt students take many 'natural' field trips and probably have to walk quite far to access any woods. I think the schools can find a way to take a busload of students into Fairmount Park to learn about the surroundings once in a while. One day a semester will not set students back. Even if it has to serve as a reward for upper level classes, they need to begin somewhere. Louv discusses groups such as the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, the Association for Experiential Education, and Foxfire. These groups could help Philadelphia teachers organize these programs. Even other schools listed in the book or local Sierra Clubs could give some advice on how to begin. Hopefully the lesson plans we are working on for class can also serve as a tool. In our class this term, we have seen how grateful the Fairmount Park is to have students. There is really no reason why nature can not be integrated more into the Philadelphia School System and I hope that with time, there is a push for the nature-based education we hear about from Louv.