Their Field of Study : Popular Outdoor Classes Bring Science Home for O.C. Pupils
The subject is science.
The classroom is an 88-acre sage-scented canyon where 11-year-old George Valle, a pupil from Portola Middle School in Orange, roams the banks of Santiago Creek, searching for a yucca plant.
But not just any yucca. This one, which is tagged and numbered, is one of 12 native California plants being studied today in an outdoor program designed to help Orange County youngsters get a firsthand look at the natural wonders they study in science classes.
Each year 30,000 children from kindergarten through sixth grade participate in the Environmental Field Study Programs provided by the Orange County Department of Education.
The outdoor classes, held at various locations throughout the county, are designed to increase pupils’ knowledge of science concepts and to help them appreciate their environment, according to Pam Johnson, program manager.
From mid-September to mid-June, Johnson, a former classroom teacher, and her staff of 15 naturalists lead kids such as George into remote canyons, take them hiking up switchback trails, help them identify insects collected from creek waters and train them to tell the difference between deer and raccoon tracks.
“What’s unusual is that we do all the teaching,” Johnson says. “This isn’t just a field trip. It’s fun, but it’s educational. Kids really learn, and they remember this for life. We help them understand the science concepts they studied in school. Things like adaptation. Most kids don’t understand the word, but when they see it, they understand it. We also teach them about cycles, seasons, how things die and decompose and how new plants live.”
Since the program began in 1981, it has become so popular that it is booked up months in advance. Some segments fill up a year ahead. Teachers who want their pupils to take part next year are encouraged to reserve space now, Johnson says. (For information call (714) 662-4950.)
Activities vary according to grade level. For example, children in kindergarten through second grade do not travel out into the field, but instead are visited by naturalists, who carry along exhibits to teach the kids about mammals, birds and insects. Third-graders can participate in half-day trips to Bolsa Chica wetlands and fourth-graders get to visit Upper Newport Bay for an entire day.
The more extensive and physically demanding trips are designed for older kids in grades 5 and 6. Destinations include Crystal Cove State Park, Lazy W Ranch in the Cleveland National Forest and Dana Point Harbor.
A new destination was added last year, when the county-owned Fleming Ranch in Modjeska Canyon was included. The ranch, which is closed to the public, belongs to the Orange County Environmental Management Agency and is used strictly for educational purposes. Already about 7,000 school children have visited the ranch as participants in the field study program.
The program is self-supporting and is paid for by pupil fees which range from a low of $2.75 to a high of $32 per child. The Fleming ranch excursion costs $15.50 per pupil. “Schools usually have paper drives, candy sales or car washes to earn money,” Johnson says. “But funding is always a problem. Teachers like the program, but sometimes paying for it is difficult.”
A few scholarships are available through the county’s Outdoor Science Foundation, according to Johnson. (For applications, teachers should write to the Environmental Field Study Program, 200 Kalmus Drive, P.O. Box 9050, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92628.)
As the program becomes better known, Johnson hopes that Orange County businesses will donate money to the foundation so that more needy children can take part. “Some of the kids who come out here have never done anything like this before,” she says. “Some have never even been to the beach.”
Each class participating in the program receives a booklet so that teachers can help prepare the children academically for their outdoor experience.
The information is correlated with the current edition of the California Science Framework, and lessons are written so that they can be used in other disciplines such as math and reading. Then, on the day of the trip, each pupil receives a field journal in which to record answers to questions posed by their naturalist teachers.
During the trip to the 88-acre Fleming Ranch, children gather around instructor Lola Allicotti with their journals in hand. Allicotti directs their attention to the first page, where 12 native California plants are pictured and labeled.
Kids then have to find the plant and match it with its picture. Then in scavenger-hunt fashion, they must find an informational card that matches the number of the plant. On that card is a detailed description of how the plant was used by the native inhabitants of this region.
The children learn, for example, that Indians used the California sagebrush for spices and that they made shampoo out of the yucca, tea out of black sage and flour out of the buckwheat plant.
Later the same children gather at the edge of a gently flowing Santiago Creek to pluck insects from the stream and identify them. Pupils fan out, nets in hand, searching for rifflebugs, water striders and toe biters--insects that they must match up with drawings lying on the ground nearby.
“Count those body parts,” Allicotti says as the children deposit the insects in water-filled plastic tubs. After each child has found and identified all the assigned insects, the specimens are returned, unharmed, to the stream.
As the children complete each assignment, they log answers in their 24-page journals, which they wear around their necks on strings to keep their hands free for exploring.
“This exercise is to learn the insect life cycle,” Johnson explains. “They are constantly learning, and it’s all so natural. We have three goals: appreciation, knowledge and commitment to the environment.”
Portola teacher Susan Grosfeld, who is accompanying the pupils on the excursion, believes the program accomplishes those goals.
“I thought it was fabulous,” she says. “Everything is geared toward the kids’ age. I have a lot of kids with limited English and I thought that would be a problem, but it wasn’t. It was great, very hands-on. They learn a lot about their environment and come away with more respect for it. We need a few more trips like this.”
