Nature centre connects students to world outside the classroom

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 30, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

When it comes to the education of young children, sometimes a little bit of variety can go a long way and being able to experience learning in a setting outside the classroom can be beneficial.
Father Leonard Van Tighem School Grade 1 students had the opportunity to learn outside the classroom on Wednesday morning when they attended the Helen Schuler Nature Centre to learn about animals’ senses.
Grade 1 student teacher Ashley Pearse said having experiences outside the classroom gives students a different perspective.
“I think having them come to the nature centre gives them a sense of appreciation towards our own nature reserves in our area and our own community,” said Pearse.
 She said students are learning about the five senses and this particular field trip helped them learn about animal senses, connecting what they’re learning with their own bodies to what they’re learning about animals’ bodies.
 “They also learned about the importance of how those animals communicate and gain their senses in the surroundings, and I just think that for students it’s important for them to learn not only about themselves, but about the environments that surround them,” said Pearse.  
Education program coordinator for the Helen Schuler Nature Centre Jessica Deacon-Rogers said one of the roles the nature centre plays in working with schools in Lethbridge is giving teachers and students information about the local natural environment.
“A lot of teachers maybe aren’t experts or know very much about local species that live here, what kind of trees grow here in Lethbridge, what kind of animals and birds and plants that we have growing here in our community, and the nature centre is an amazing resource for them to be able to come here on field trips to learn,” said Deacon-Rogers.
 She said they also provide teachers resources they can access, either online or by borrowing products from the nature centre.
 “We have different activities on our website that are educational activities that teachers don’t necessarily have to be here to be able to access them. As well, they are welcome to borrow some of our products, things that they may not have access to in their classroom but that we have here at the nature centre and they can use as a resource to support learning in their classroom,” said Deacon-Rogers.
 She said they recognize that not all classes are able to visit the nature centre since it has a limited number of slots for field trips, and once they are full staff are unable to have additional ones added.  
 “It is important for us to not only have classes come here, but also to be able to support learning in the classroom if they can’t make it down to the River Valley as well,” said Deacon-Rogers.
She said staff also try to encourage people to spend time outdoors as some studies recently have shown that people spend 90 per cent of their time indoors.
“That’s very little time that we’re spending outside, and people become very disconnected from the world around them, so part of our role here on our school field trips and all of our programs is to connect people with the environment and recognize that we’re part of a much bigger community than just the people that live here,” said Deacon-Rogers.
She said forming connections with the environment, especially at a young age, is really important which is why they focus on elementary school age children by offering school field trips.
“A lot of your connections with the environment and a lot of the opinions you form about the environment are formed at a very young age, so we connect people to the local environment, spending that time outside learning about the things that live here, learning about the environment with a hands-on outdoor opportunity,” said Deacon-Rogers.

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