A Project to Enhance John Muir Middle School's Environmental Education through Curriculum for Muir's Eagle's Nest and an Inservice for the Faculty
File(s)
Date
1995-05Author
Vollmers, Estelle K.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper deals with the development of environmental education
curriculum materials for use in Muir's Eagle's
Nest, an outdoor classroom, at John Muir Middle School in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a part of this project a
curriculum resource library was established, an inservice
was held and the use of Muir's Eagle's Nest was monitored
during the "93-94" school year. A limited number of faculty
participated in this project which made evaluation
difficult. It was determined that teachers who follow a
preplanned path starting with motivation, next are
inserviced and then prepare their own lessons in
environmental education, will meet with greater success
than those who do not complete all three steps of this path.
Secondly, it was determined that inserviced teachers are
able to impart their knowledge and experience to other
teachers and thus help them to be successful too. The major
recommendation for schools developing outdoor sites and
accompanying curriculum materials is that time spent
convincing teachers of the importance of environmental
education and exciting them about it is needed as a
prerequisite for their participation in environmental
education. They also need to see that environmental
education can be infused into their present curriculum and
that it need not be an addition to an aIl ready full
program.