Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you to go play outside? Or if told her, "mom, I'm bored," the ever so occasional response was, "well, then go climb a tree."? As you know, momma knows best. She told you those things because you can learn an unbelievable amount of information,concepts, and practical applications from studying the outside world. Look at all the different discipline areas from the meteorologist who predicts the weather for a living, to the farmer who depends on the weather for his livelihood. We all need to learn about the effects the Earth has on us, the effects we have on the Earth, and what practices we can utilize to strike a balance between these effects.
A local non-profit by the name of T.R.E.E., Teaching Responsible Earth Education, does just that. They have four separate programs that teach kids sustainable practices, through hands on lesson plans that take place in an "outdoor classroom."
The "outdoor classroom" that I had the opportunity to help teach in was Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve - Barataria. The program was called "Earth Keepers," and is a three day program for fourth graders. I was a volunteer counselor for this program two years ago, and got a first hand look at its impact on the children and how they learned natural science concepts with ease and expertise. It is always better to learn through doing then by sitting and reading a book, in action you have multiple senses aiding in the learning experience instead of just one. These kids become so well informed, in such a short period of time, while having fun, that by the end of the second day I had multiple kids coming up to me and telling me everything they learned about the water cycle, food webs, and entropy with flawless accuracy as if they had been studying concept maps for the 20 minutes prior to our conversion.
In addition to science concepts, the program teaches responsible environmental practices, such as the importance of recycling, something the city of New Orleans drastically needs more of, how to lower their consumption of water and electricity, and finally, that ultimately, they the student will be responsible for what happens to the environment around them.
The city of New Orleans needs to give programs such as T.R.E.E., the press, the funds, and the resources necessary to increase its influence on molding the young minds of tomorrow to ensure that they change New Orleans for the better.
Or Watch This Video To Learn More.
“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi
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