What is the Environmental Living Program
at the John Muir National Historic Site?
Environmental Living, as the name implies, is an actual, living, full day experience for children at any cultural, historic or pre-historic site where the interaction and interdependency of people and their environment is present.
The basic concept of the program is SURVIVAL. Peering into the past, students gather information on how a particular culture survived in the area they are today. Using this information, they prepare to survive for a day in the era they have studied. Through roles they choose to play, the students relate the PAST to themselves in the PRESENT. Finally, through this complete involvement in the roles and activities, they consider what might be here TOMORROW.
Teachers attend a planning workshop. This workshop is arranged by the ELP coordinator, and planned in consultation with teachers who have used this program in their classrooms. The emphasis is experiencing as well as planning and discussing what needs to be organized for and by participating classes.
Each group questions:
· Who lived here?
· What supplies did they need and where did they get them?
· Who was in charge and what “laws” where essential for survival?
· What needed to be cared for and who did the caring?
At John Muir National Historic Site, 20-35 third, fourth or fifth grade students become the human element of the California fruit ranch operated by John Muir and his work force. They must be able to provide a day’s work, food and recreation all within the context of 1880’s rural California.
The experience of the fruit ranch is furthered by a study of Muir’s preservation philosophy and writings. From the settling of the United States to the sprawling suburbia of today, people have questioned the process of land development. SO DID JOHN MUIR! Muir fought to preserve some of our country’s most beautiful wild places. This preservation of land became the foundation for the National Park Service.
With the study of Muir’s philosophies and the experience of working on a fruit ranch in comparison with their own life style, children will have the basis to make the necessary decisions regarding land management in the FUTURE.
If you are interested in participating in this program, contact John Muir National Historic Site at (925) 228-8860.
