Tag: environmental education

Dua and Raihaanah: Dunwoody Nature Center

by Dr. Shannon Finck

Dua Spall and Raihaanah Bint Abdullah Muslim worked with the Dunwoody Nature Center, an organization with an emphasis on outdoor environmental education. To help communicate this organization’s message, they produced an infographic about the importance of environmental education for young children with evidence from DNC’s record of providing quality, public environmental-educational programming.

 
 
Dua and Raihaanah also created these directional signs to guide parents and children through the Dunwoody Nature Center during their Fairytale Forest event. 

 

Dunwoody Nature Center and Environmental Education

by rmuslim1

The Dunwoody Nature Center focuses on educating the public about nature and encouraging environmental stewardship. On my first volunteer day, I was told to follow a group of students on their school field trip. At first, I was disappointed by this because I thought it would be boring. I imagined that school field trips were not that insightful for kids or adults, nonetheless. Claire, a volunteer from a high school, seemed excited at this prospect. Her enthusiasm about the field trip made me wonder if it would be worth it after all.

Contrary to my preconceived notions, school field trips are fun and educational. The field trip was split up into an indoor portion, where the kids were introduced to animal furs, an owl’s wing, and a live snake to learn about animal groups, and an outdoor portion where the kids were shown a live toad and tadpoles and learned about watersheds. It was interesting to see how easily they got excited about the live animals. When the instructor showed them the tadpoles and toad, they huddled around him in awe. The funniest thing about the experience was their reaction to the animal furs and the owl wing because the kids were concerned that the instructor had just stolen the fur and wing from the animals to teach the course. At some point the instructor had to clarify that “no animals were harmed in the making of this program”.

That field trip is a highlight of my experience with Dunwoody Nature Center. I thought it was nice that the kids were learning about watersheds because I only recently learned about them in another seminar. The Dunwoody Nature Center has a variety of programs that enable children and adults to interact with nature. Through these programs they promote environmental awareness and stewardship. Recently we have been preparing for the Fairytale Forest Festival which takes place this weekend. As the name suggests, this festival incorporates interactions with nature and fairytales.

I am developing my project with Dua. Our experience with the Dunwoody Nature Center has inspired us to create a product that focuses on environmental education. Some ideas that we have discussed so far include infographics, a website, and a survey. I recently spoke with Dr. Finck about developing a short survey for festival attendees for feedback on the educational aspect of the festival. We might also make a broader survey that addresses environmental education in general. This one will be longer and target individuals at 40 years and under.

 

Jaz, Sabrina, & Mahnoor; Noor & Yash: Atlanta Creek League

by Dr. Shannon Finck

These two groups of students organized and promoted creek cleanups and worked to increase creek access in their areas as part of Atlanta Creek League. Below are some photos of them planning their events as well as an example of some of the promotional materials they created. 

 

And if you’re in the Georgia State area, you can support the ongoing work of Atlanta Creek League by signing up to Play for Clear Creek (Jaz’s Team)!

Ava & Milo: Blue Heron Nature Preserve

by Dr. Shannon Finck

For their community partner, Blue Heron Nature Preserve, Ava and Milo researched and created educational signage for a native plant and pollinator garden. Their 8-foot sign included facts about plants, insects, and birds that may be found in the garden as well as original art rendering the flora and fauna of the preserve. This spring, they mounted it in the garden at a height that would make it accessible to all visitors, including children.

Understanding the In’s and Out’s of a Non-profit Organization and Surveying Trees

by mvasquez10

  The Blue Heron Nature Preserve (BHNP) is more than just a pretty place to stretch your legs. During our time volunteering our coordinator has emphasized the importance of learning what it takes to keep a nonprofit organization moving toward its goals. During our first few weeks, we met with individuals from the different departments that help maintain the vision of the BHNP. Essentially, it can be broken down into four main categories; management, development; education; and environmental science. The Executive Director explained her role as the main representative of the BHNP to other organizations and government offices, she also is responsible for managing the staff and making final decisions about future operations and developments. Those on the development side are in charge of securing funding and planning outreach events with corporate and private donors. Education is one of the most important roles for this non-profit, not only for the hard work of planning summer camps, and after-school programs that require teaching staff, supplies, and a lot of forward planning but because it is through these programs that the BHNP receives most of their funding. And last but certainly not least is the environmental science department which acts as the guiding light for all decisions of development and educational program, making sure that preserving, caring for, and monitoring the precious ecosystems within the preserve are done in a beneficial and meaningful way. 

  Ava and I are volunteering under the environmental science department head, Denise Cardin, one of our duties is to help with the ongoing tree survey. A tree survey can be thought of as taking inventory of all the mature trees in the area, identifying them, taking measurements, marking their location, and noting any observations of poor health such as signs of rot, fungi, Ivy, and harmful pests.

Here we are working on one of the trees just outside the parking lot area. This was a fun tree to work on because it did not match any of the descriptions listed in provided Tree ID Booklet we were provided. Being a plant nerd, I took this as a challenge and tried my best to piece together a reasonable identification for it, my best guess was it was some kind of Yew, based on the branching pattern, and leaf orientation. Luckily, I have a plant ID app on my phone which came in handy once I figured out what I was looking for and was able to confirm that it was indeed a Yew tree. It was moments like these that I find the most rewarding working outside, I love learning more, and figuring things out like a puzzle. Ava was also extremely helpful taking notes as we talked and joked about anything and everything. 

  Next week we will begin work on our project, installing an educational sign that explains the importance of the locally endangered native flowers growing in the preserve. We are all really looking forward to getting started and bringing our vision to life!