Using Our Parks As Teaching Laboratories

by Marilyn F. Campbell

Marilyn F. Campbell is Deputy Director for Conservation Education, Vermilion County Conservation District. She directs a year-around outdoor school program for middle elementary grades at two nature centers, a summer day camp program, teacher training sessions, teaches adult classes in nature study and ecology, and edits the district's newsletter "The Vermilion Conservationist." Miss Campbell is a nature writer and photographer, and regularly writes columns for Illinois Audubon Bulletin and the Vermilion County Heritage, as well as area newspapers. She holds a Master's degree from Indiana State University, and has studied ecology at Colorado State University, the University of Arizona, and the Audubon Camp in Maine. Recently elected to the Wilson Ornithological Society, Miss Campbell contributes regularly to the literature on bird populations in east-central Illinois. She resides near Georgetown, Illinois, along the Little Vermilion River. Her recreational hobbies include birding, nature photography, and obedience-training her collies— Princess, C.D., and Molly.

County and municipally-owned parks can have great value as outdoor laboratories for school and youth groups. The Vermilion County Conservation District has built a comprehensive conservation education program which is county-wide in scope by offering school classes the opportunity to study in its two parks.

The "Outdoor School" program, now in its ninth year, brings about 1,500 fourth and fifth grade students to Forest Glen Preserve and Kennekuk Cove County Park each year for four days of conservation and nature study activities.

The "hands-on" study of native animals and plants, geology, ponds and streams, prairie and forest ecosystems is directed by a staff of professional naturalists, with classroom teachers taking an active role in each outdoor experience. Touching, listening, observing, smelling and tasting are encouraged as students become more aware of their environment and the great variety of living things which share our earth.

"I never knew that school could be so much fun," a student remarks. And teachers say that a day in the outdoor classroom cannot be equaled by a month of inside studies. Administrators and parents have given the program their blessing, as all public school districts and most parochial schools send one or more classes to the parks for studies during the school year.

Aside from the popular Outdoor School program, classes also utilize the parks for daily field trips and visits to the Interpretive Centers. A number of self-guiding trails allow teachers to conduct their own learning field trips, or they can call on help from the Naturalist Staff for special studies such as tree and bird identification or pioneer crafts. One trail is paved for use by the handicapped.

High school classes also utilize the park facilities for all-day sessions in aquatic and terrestrial biology or other specialized studies. Arrangements are also possible for community college and adult classes.

The wide variety of resources and facilities available in our parks are offered to local school districts at no cost. The professionally-trained Naturalists are Conservation District employees, and four fully-equipped classrooms are provided for the District's educational programs. The only cost to schools is transportation to the parks, and lunches, which are usually furnished by the students themselves.

Cooperative programs between park or recreation districts can be rewarding for all individuals involved. Quality use of park lands is assured, and students receive the benefit of studying in an outdoor laboratory which is vastly different than the concrete and mud of a majority of school yards.

Our parks should provide educational as well as recreational experiences. Cooperative school programs can mean future support for park systems, too, because each student who has studied in the out-of-doors has been exposed to the value of open lands. Hopefully, each leaves with a feeling of increased respect for life, and a realization that we need to use our resources wisely.

Illinois Parks and Recreation May/June, 1980 14

Illinois Parks and Recreation May/June, 1980 15