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Index of Subjects --Apple-Mail-E58DDF90-BF33-47AA-9F64-9B9A05108D22 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable We need to push for every school to have onsite outdoor "natural classrooms"= which include a little wetland and native flora. The initiative should inc= lude changes to the curriculum which involve biology/ecology classes being r= egularly held outdoors. With kindest regards Mary (Macaulay) marymacaulay@hotmail.com @maryemacaulay "What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of littl= e consequence. The only consequence is what we do." -- John Ruskin > On Jun 24, 2014, at 12:00 PM, bev wigney <bkwigney@gmail.com> wrote: >=20 >> On 2014-06-24, at 10:23 AM, Fred Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca> wrote: >>=20 >> * it's hard to see this as bullshit - it's one of the fundamental problem= s facing naturalists and nature in these latter days. Both kids and society s= uffer from Nature Appreciation Deficit Disorder, and from the consequences t= he grotesque exploitation of the Earth by those afflicted with NADD. It's a b= ig part of the job of naturalists to reverse this, and temporarily holding T= urtles in captivity is one of the classic ways of communing with nature and g= etting started with science=20 >>=20 >> fred. >=20 > * I would like to echo what Fred Schueler has just commented. While I'm d= efinitely not advocating that parents should capture painted turtles for spo= ilt children, etc..., I do wonder if there is a natural history education pr= ogram available at that site (and others as well). Being close enough to ob= serve small creatures is one way of inspiring interest and empathy for the n= atural world. Some will say, "But there are interpretive signs!" To which I= will reply, "Those are not enough." >=20 > For several years, I conducted volunteer stream surveys in the Ottawa area= . A science teacher at one of that city's high schools asked if she could b= ring her Grade 10 biology class out to spend a full day with my survey partn= er and I once each season. I believe we did four of these annual class outi= ng surveys. I soon learned that, almost without exception, no child had eve= r held a frog, crayfish, turtle, fish, butterfly, or dragonfly. In fact, ma= ny of these kids were quite afraid and sometimes even terrified of touching,= being touched by, or even looking closely at these creatures. A couple of t= imes I had to have talks with kids who screamed and immediately crushed fish= ing or wolf spiders on sight. However, by the end of a day of survey work, m= ost of the kids were quite comfortable about picking up crayfish, netting an= d releasing minnows, carefully holding a dragonfly, or having a frog sit on t= heir hands. I hope that, out of that hundred or so biology students, at lea= st one or two will have chosen to pursue some line of work in the field of n= atural history, environmental studies, or conservation management. I hope t= hat a further few may have become teachers who will find a way to transfer= their experience that day in some way to another generation of students. I= hope that a goodly number of those students, should they ever have children= of their own, will remember that day spent on a river counting and measuri= ng crayfish or learning something about identifying frog species. >=20 > Unfortunately, the opportunities for nature encounters are becoming increa= singly few. As it was, during the four years of our class stream surveys, w= e went from fairly simple arrangements for an outing, to increasingly more d= ifficult arrangements where the school wanted to know if my partner and I ha= d life guard training, rescue gear, etc... We were volunteers with one of th= e region's conservation authorities, so acting as life guards was not part o= f our schtick. We were working in quiet, mid-calf-deep streams, so you can s= ee where all of this was going. As well, even locating a suitable study are= a - clean water with excellent biodiversity - became increasingly difficult a= s several of the best reaches of river were basically ruined by subdivision d= evelopment just within that small period of time I am describing. A lot of= this makes me feel sad and sick. I wonder how, and where, and from whom, c= hildren will learn about nature. =20 >=20 > bev wigney > Round Hill, NS - in summer. --Apple-Mail-E58DDF90-BF33-47AA-9F64-9B9A05108D22 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><head><meta http-equiv=3D"content-type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3D= utf-8"></head><body dir=3D"auto"><div>We need to push for every school to ha= ve onsite outdoor "natural classrooms" which include a little wetland and na= tive flora. The initiative should include changes to the curriculum wh= ich involve biology/ecology classes being regularly held outdoors.<br><br>Wi= th kindest regards<div>Mary (Macaulay)</div><div><a href=3D"mailto:marymacau= lay@hotmail.com">marymacaulay@hotmail.com</a></div><div>@maryemacaulay</div>= <div><br></div><div><div style=3D"font-weight: bold;"><span style=3D"backgro= und-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"What we think, or what we know, or what= we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is w= hat we do."</span></div><div align=3D"left"><span style=3D"background-color:= rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">-- John Ruskin</span></div></div></div><div><br>On= Jun 24, 2014, at 12:00 PM, bev wigney <<a href=3D"mailto:bkwigney@gmail.= com">bkwigney@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type=3D"cite= "><div><span>On 2014-06-24, at 10:23 AM, Fred Schueler <<a href=3D"mailto= :bckcdb@istar.ca">bckcdb@istar.ca</a>> wrote:</span><br><span></span><br>= <blockquote type=3D"cite"><span>* it's hard to see this as bullshit - it's o= ne of the fundamental problems facing naturalists and nature in th