Wilderness a Backdrop for Learning
4th Grade Classes Move to Preserve

By Aaron Wilkinson (contributing writer)
Staff photos by Susan Poag

Like most local school children, 9-year-old Shandrika Morris and her classmates at Andrew H. Wilson Elementary School in New Orleans spent the week before Christmas holidays buckling down on some important lessons.

But for these lucky fourth-graders, freedom from stuffy school halls came early, and the swamps and trails of Jean Lafitte National Historic Park's Barataria Preserve became their classroom, thanks to the Teaching Responsible Earth Education, or TREE, organization.

Financed by a $20,255 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and $13,000 in matching money and in-kind services from Tree, the organization began teaching students the Earthkeepers outdoor education program this winter.

Designed specifically for fourth-graders, Earthkeepers puts children, along with teachers and parent volunteers, onto Barataria's trails for three days of activities directed by the TREE staff. The students learn first-hand the reliance of all living things on the sun, how plants and animals depend on one another, and how the natural world recycles its air, water and soil.

	Fourth-graders from Wilson Elementary School in New Orleans got a hands-on, up-close look at ecology and biology during a three-day-long Earthkeepers Program by TREE (Teaching Responsible Earth Education) at Jean Lafitte National Park-Barataria Unit in Lafitte. William Huguhes reads a question to his classmates while they were searching for clues in an outdoor exercise that taught the life cycle of plants.

Students divide their time among the preserve's education center, its trails and clearings and a safari tent belonging to E.M., a mystery wizard of the woods who leaves the students directions, clues, and rewards for achievements.

"It's fun," Shandrika said, after a morning on the trails following imaginary molecules through different forms of soil, air and plant and animal life. "You get to go out in the woods and see the animals and do activities. I think it's nice that you can be out here and be learning outside."

The Earthkeepers program was developed in 1988 by the West Virginia-based Institute for Earth Education. Sue Brown, TREE director, said the program exposes urban children to natural environments.

	Keionte Swanigan smiles as she spots something in the treetops.

By giving children the opportunity to study earth sciences hands-on, Brown said the program which incorporates 25 percent of the Louisiana State Science Curriculum Standards, reinforces classroom learning and improves student performance.

TREE has sought the participation of schools with low earth science achievement scores, hoping to prove the program can reverse such trends.

"Instead of just learning in the classroom, if students can learn outside and see things, things make more sense," she said. "We also feel like everyone of us has to take responsibility to do something about the environment. This gives them some power, some control to say it does make a difference what I do."

Other schools participating in the program this year are John Dibert, Charles Drew, William France, Fisk-Howard, and Laurel elementary schools. Teachers and parents attend preprogram workshops, and instructors provide follow-up exercises in the classroom using periodic messages from E.M. as prompts. So far, the program has been a big hit among students as well as parents and teachers, said Wilson fourth-grade teacher Terrie Willard.

"I think it's really great because most of these children have never been in this kind of environment, where they get to experience nature hands-on," she said. "I think it will help them on their LEAP test too, because they will identify more with the things we're studying. They're very excited to be out here."