TEACHERS LEARN TO USE LOCAL RESOUCES TO DELIVER A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION

Stevens Point, WI – “Education occurs when students gain experience with something that is relevant to their lives. Everything else is memorization,” claims Nick Hylla, director of the Wisconsin Forest Resources Education Alliance (WFREA) based in Stevens Point. “If a student does not feel information is important, useful, or interesting, what then motivates them to learn? The threat of failing a test is not as effective as the promise of making a difference. As teachers, we should be in the business of creating lifetime learners, not last-minute test takers.”

These are the types of ideas that teachers discussed during the summer course Community-Based Education in Your School Forest. The 5-day course, which brought 25 teachers to Stevens Point on July 23rd, was developed by WFREA and LEAF - the Wisconsin K-12 Forestry Education Program. Thanks to funding from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, and partnerships with the Woodland Leadership Institute and Dovetail Partners, Inc., teachers from across the state received training, education resources, and equipment to develop education programs that will connect their students with their community and their regional landscape.

“There are currently 350 school forests registered to 200 school districts around the state. School forests are growing to be the largest network of outdoor education sites in the nation’s public school system” explains Jeremy Solin, the Wisconsin school forest coordinator. The potential of this network to enhance student learning is what inspired the course. “School forests, in combination with the appropriate curriculum and a motivated teacher, can help schools engage students, meet state education standards, demonstrate sustainable natural resource management, provide income, and strengthen school-community relationships.”

At the heart of community-based education is the development of partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and agencies. These community stakeholders can provide expertise and assistance to help teachers and students understand local issues and become engaged in community projects.

To this end, community leaders from Stevens Point turned out to help teachers understand the issues facing the communities of Central Wisconsin. The leaders were interviewed by groups of teachers seeking to understand the community’s critical issues and identify opportunities to become involved. Green Bay teacher, Ned Dorff, says his students would benefit from going through a similar process.  “I really want my students to feel like a part of the community.  A lot of them have just moved to the area and their families aren’t really part of the Green Bay community yet.  It would be cool to help establish those connections.”  Saint Mary Central teacher, Ann Hoernke agrees.  Hoernke adds that community-based learning is just better education. “We don’t learn in isolation.  The more ways we can teach kids, the more they will understand and retain the material.” 

More course information can be found online at: http://www.wfrea.org/wksp.html