--- Schools along the trail ---
In a way, I've been blogging about education on the Bear Creek Trail the whole time. I started by looking at museums, libraries, and computers (at least my smart phone, which is a pocket computer.) Then I looked at psychology and philosophy using the trail as a "natural laboratory". This year, I have been looking at the sociology and religions of the trail. Along the way, I have taken side-trips into science (for instance, wildflowers and weather), industries, food on the trail, art, and history.
But other people use the trail for educational purposes. I have seen three school field trips on Bear Creek Trail and a group from one of the local colleges at the nearby Morrison Museum of Natural History studying paleontology.
There are several schools along Bear Creek Trail. Most of them are along the eastern part of the trail, so I hiked from Wadsworth Boulevard to Oxford Station and visited a couple of them: John F. Kennedy High School and Mullen Catholic High School. These are within view of the trail.
It's summer, so I was hoping I could catch staff on campus when students were not around so I would not interrupt their studies. In both cases, that worked.
This is a large town, so the schools tend to be large. Enrollment in Kennedy High School runs about 1500 students and that for Mullen is about 800-900 students.
The people I talked to did not know of any use of the creek as a resource but said that they thought that the science classes did have field trips to look at things like life in the creek. Kennedy students use the creek as a hangout. I have seen families of graduating students in the park celebrating.
One of the classes I saw at the creek were, indeed, looking at life forms in the creek. One of the others was testing the creek waters for impurities.
[John F. Kennedy High School]
[Mullen High School]
Does your local schools use parks and other outdoor sites for educational purposes?
If you see a group on a field trip, you might ask them what their doing and let them teach you something.
No comments:
Post a Comment