Return to Emory Report home pageTwenty-two Georgia elementary, middle and high school teachers spent June 19-30 slogging through swamps, tramping through woodlands and wading in streams as part of an intensive training institute that teaches them how to turn their school yards into environmental classrooms.
The Oxford Environmen-tal Institute, now in its fourth year, is taught by members of the science faculty at Oxford College, who each year share their environmental expertise with public and private school teachers from around the state. The Oxford faculty began the program as a way to help improve science education at the K-12 levels.
"Georgia students' test scores in science are weak," said Steven C. Baker, an Oxford institute faculty member. "Many students dread taking science courses, which is a mystery. You can go to an elementary school and talk about fish and kids can't get enough; but somewhere along the line they lose that enthusiasm."
Teachers, too, can be reluctant to teach science when they haven't done much science since college, said Baker. "But studies agree that the best way to teach science is to do science. We believe that giving teachers the tools they need to do environmental science helps them spread that enthusiasm to students."
Teachers in the program learn the basics on up: how to take water samples from streams, how to identify organisms from polluted and clean streams, and how to categorize plants and trees. They take field trips to nearby wetlands, nature trails and rock outcroppings. In the process, teachers discover they can "do good science" in their own school yards and neighborhoods.
The institute has changed both teacher attitudes and teaching strategies, say former participants. "I gained a new-found respect for botany and entomology," said Betsy Proffitt of Covington, who teaches fourth grade. "I was able to show the students ecosystems that are present right around our school building."
After their two-week stint of "environmental boot camp," teachers return to their home schools to spread the word on environmental science--which often means turning a neighborhood or school yard into a wildlife habitat or learning center. "The program is invaluable in the contacts it provides to teachers," said Anita Oravec of Mansfield. Both Oravec and Proffitt learned how to obtain grants from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to set up wildlife habitats at their schools.
The institute is funded by grants from the Eisenhower Program for Higher Education, Georgia Power, the Georgia Wildlife Federation and Oxford itself. The program has been selected for inclusion in the Environmental Success Index, a national database that lists successful environmental programs, and has received a certificate of achievement from Renew America, a national environmental organization.
-- Elaine Justice
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