Spring 2005 schedule

 Goals of Spring Block

 Pictures

The uninitiated may wonder what “Spring Block” is all about. In 1980 I started a spring quarter field program which took a group of 15-20 students out of the classroom into the field to explore the potentials of environmental education “from backyard to backcountry.” It was an opportunity to try out some of the theories and methods that had been explored in the classroom. We have always taken a strongly experiential approach to teaching environmental education, meaning that students have had plenty of opportunity to meet professionals, visit field settings, and test their instructional ideas and skills on each other. In this “Spring Block” they must take the next step, designing, implementing and evaluating educational programs with “real learners,” students from local school districts. Recently we have offered programs for high school students from Sedro-Woolley taught on Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands, and for fifth graders from Blaine Elementary School.  

The courses in the Spring Block are as follows:

                        ESTU 474  Outdoor Education

                        ESTU 476  Experiential Learning in EE

                        ESTU 483  Field Methods in EE

                        ESTU 484  Natural History for EE

 These courses are integrated into a seamless educational experience that finds the group at various times on Sehome Hill behind the campus, at the outdoor school sites in Blaine and Sucia Island, and in the North Cascades and Olympic Mountains. This quarter is an intensive educational experience that allows us to tie together elements of our environmental education curriculum. Most students do this experience near the end of their program, as it is intended to be the capstone experience of the environmental education training.

The Spring Block is required for many EE majors, so is open to only a few students from other programs. If you are interested, contact Wendy Walker of the Environmental Studies faculty.