Learning about kids, nature, and kids in nature

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A Student Conservation Association intern's path toward effective environmental education.

Lessons Learned

September 25, 2013 Posted by: Max Odland

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, with hardly a moment to spare between giving school programs and getting ready for the next new program. Today is the first time I've felt I can take a breath and write in a while because I finally gave my last new lesson at Exit Glacier (yesterday, about the water cycle). I still have two more programs to give, but I've led them before, so I don't need to frantically pack them into my brain—they're in there somewhere already. The fact that I only have four more days of work at Kenai Fjords hasn't really begun to sink in.

 

Two Ways to Find Home

September 11, 2013 Posted by: Max Odland

A school bus pulls up outside the Exit Glacier Nature Center to unload its passengers. A stream of 6th graders pours out its door under a blanket of gray clouds. Clouds that threaten rain, but won't make good… not this day, at least. The students gather under a pavilion briefly to hear their mission and split into groups of five. Then they're off on the trails, park rangers and chaperones trailing behind as they hurry down the trails on a hunt to find different native plants using a GPS and a sheet of clues.

 

Mostly on the (Outwash) Plain

August 10, 2013 Posted by: Max Odland

It had to happen. I didn't know when, exactly, but there was no avoiding it. Too many Sewardites warned me, 'this isn't the real Alaska.' I knew it couldn't last, but hope lingered quietly in the back of my mind. That hope finally lost its stare-down with reality.

The rain is back.

 

Success(ion)

July 08, 2013 Posted by: Max Odland

It's nearly impossible to miss how much the landscape changes over the course of the short walk from the Nature Center at Exit Glacier to the glacier itself. You might notice it in fits and starts, when the trees suddenly get small enough peer between with ease, or when you emerge onto the hillside and see them replaced by occasional shrubs poking out of a patchy moss carpet.

 

Getting Warmed Up

June 24, 2013 Posted by: Max Odland

A large part of my job this summer will be to lead interpretive programs for visitors at Exit Glacier. Interpretation is all about giving people a better opportunity to connect with the nature, history, or culture of a particular place, and there is plenty of exciting nature at Exit glacier to connect with. There is, however, one bit of nature at Exit Glacier that I'm not so enthusiastic about—climate change.

 

Last updated: April 14, 2015

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