Guided by our theme “Artist Scientists” we believe that engagement with arts and humanities alongside scientific exploration is essential for cultivating personal expression within students and fostering a sense of connection to the world around them. This curriculum is divided into two sections: a pre-trip lesson, and the material for the field trip itself. This pre-trip lesson introduces middle school students to the Canopy Connections Team, our community partners, and old growth forests. The lesson will provide background knowledge for students prior to arriving at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. By the end of the field trip through our curriculum, students will be able to engage with forests through sensory observations, describe three ways that arts and humanities connect with forests and forest research, discuss the ecological importance of old growth forests, and utilize forest knowledge obtained and personal connection created to take action within their community.
The field trip opening is designed to greet the students, break them off into groups, introduce their guides, go over group agreements and expectations, and take a pre-trip quiz.
This station introduces students to the unique structural diversity that is a key component of old-growth forests. Students will be able to describe the complex and dynamic nature of an old growth forest and identify dominant species, such as Douglas-fir, western hemlock, salal, and Oregon grape that can be found there. Through art and hands-on activities that emphasize their various senses, students will be able to expand their knowledge of old growth forests while developing a personal connection and appreciation for the organisms that can be found there. This station also helps students expand their listening, observational, and creativity skills, as well as formulate a hypothesis about the role of vegetation in their local forests.
This station will introduce middle school students to three different soil textures that can be found within H.J. Andrews, connecting students to some of the research being done on the site and teaching them a hands on method in which they identify the different textures. Students will use ceramics and physical activity to express as well as understand their observations.
This station introduces students to the importance of natural disturbance events that help regenerate and change the forest landscape. Through a series of individual and group activities, students will learn about floods, fires, landslides, and windstorms, in addition to human induced changes in the form of logging, that are often parts of old-growth forest processes. This lesson will help students understand in what specific ways life is rejuvenated and shift the narrative on what our social norm considers to be a destroyed landscape. Students will also be able to analyse the history of large events through the remnant ecological indicators of past fires, floods and wind storms, with activities that will enhance skills in journaling, critical thinking and imagination. This lesson concludes with students sharing perspectives and reviewing misunderstood concepts with the goal of understanding nature based timelines and forest self regulation.
Students will gain a new perspective on forests by having the chance to climb up into the canopy of an old growth Douglas fir. Our community partner, Pacific Tree Climbing Institute, will provide the equipment and safety instructions for climbing the tree. Once all students who want to climb have climbed we will debrief for a few moments on their experience.
Once each group is back at the pavilion, we distribute the post-quiz to the students. To wrap up the day, we gather all together in a circle and have the students share what they learned during the field trip. We then take a moment of gratitude by closing their eyes and staying quiet for a moment, observing/listening to the forest around them. We thank our community partners and each other, then send them on their way.