Learning Through Nature: The TTU Center at Junction Outdoor School

By Timothy Howard, Digital Media Coordinator

Technology in classrooms has made information more accessible to students and educators than ever before. The Information Age has increased the ease with which we educate youth, it has also made hands-on learning experiences in the outdoors less available. The Texas Tech University Outdoor School looks to address that problem.

The Outdoor School is located at the scenic TTU Center at Junction in Junction, Texas. Since its inception in 2003, the Outdoor School has devoted itself to creating innovative educational experiences that immerse kindergarten through 12th-grade students into real-world, hands-on activities. The goal of these activities is to stimulate imagination and understanding of difficult, abstract concepts while giving students the opportunity to be exposed to nature.

The Outdoor School provides educational opportunities to students in a variety of contexts, whether it is a class taking a field trip or students wanting to attend a summer camp. The lessons taught are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills (TEKS), giving students and teachers valuable knowledge that can be directly applied to their classroom curriculum. The Outdoor School also provides equipment and tools the students need to conduct field investigations that may not be available to classroom teachers on traditional school campuses. Many lodging options are also available to students for longer stays.

A classroom of students from Trent I.S.D in Trent, Texas, recently attended the Outdoor School for an overnight field trip. The Interim Outdoor School Coordinator, Melody Plumley, explained what the students were learning as they waded into the South Llano River to collect aquatic organisms.

"Right now, the students are learning about aquatic biology and are using biomonitoring techniques to measure water quality," said Plumley. "These kids are receiving hands-on science lessons that will boost their academic performance. They could sit in a classroom and read a textbook to gain this knowledge, but that does not replace going out into the field and experiencing it firsthand. Vitamin N (nature) is something many of these kids are deficient in, and they are getting plenty of it out here."

Plumley also noticed how the hands-on nature learning experiences were beginning to change how students paid attention to the details happening around them every day.

"Our first lesson was about butterflies," Plumley reflected. "After that, they began to notice every butterfly that they saw. They were even able to name the species."

Dora Baine, a parent of one of the students in the class, also commented on the excitement of learning at the Outdoor School.

"My daughter is a fifth-grader attending the Outdoor School," said Baine. "My oldest son also came here over four years ago. He could not stop talking about it for a month. It's an educational experience where they come home having learned a lot because they have to go into nature and physically experience it for themselves."

Learning at the Outdoor School is an experience students will remember and take with them for the rest of their lives. Visit junction.ttu.edu for more information about the Outdoor School and how it could benefit the students you teach!

Outdoor School Students Along the South Llano River

 

Outdoor School Students Learning in Nature