Mud and skunk cabbage

I'm up to my boots in mud on Bandon Marsh, south of Charleston. The Shorebird Sister School Programme is run by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to inspire shorebird and habitat conservation. In this area it brings over 800 local 10-12 year-olds to the shore after four lead-up classroom sessions. Here we are looking at some of the invertebrates we have dug up in the mud to see what different shorebirds eat. Chatting to the kids I find out that they have been working on bird identification, adaptation and the threats they face.

I am very lucky to spend the afternoon with Tom Gaskill, who has been the Education Program Coordinator at South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve for 15 years. We have a very interesting discussion as we walk through the beautiful wetlands and forests of this 4,800 acre natural area in the Coos estuary, set up in 1974 to protect estuarine habitats for long-term research, education, and coastal stewardship. The team at South Slough runs a very active schools outreach programme, including involving students in Google Earth mapping using data collected in the field and in the development of restoration programmes. They are currently working with OIMB, Hatfield Marine Science Center and North West Aquatic and Marine Educators to develop modules on watershed, estuarine and marine environmental education. Tom himself is on a Task Force which is building environmental literacy standards into State Education.

The week at Charleston ends with a lovely meal with Professor Jan Hodder, OIMB Academic Co-ordinator and her husband Mike Graybill, who manages the South Slough NERR. Trish Mace from OIMB and her son Ian are also there. Over a couple of glasses of wine we talk around Oregon's environmental affairs and, at least as important, enjoy excellent company.

Living with the Ocean

On the south-west coast of Oregon a small town called Charleston is tucked against a busy dockside lined with fishing and tourist boats. The Oregon Institute of Marine Biology has its base here, in a campus of attractive traditional buildings covered in sun-bleached wooden shakes. I'm here to see OIMB's amazing track record for bringing the local marine environment to life for local children.

For the past six years a National Science Foundation grant has meant that nine OIMB graduate students a year have been teaching marine biology two days a week in twelve local schools to Grades K-6 (ages 6 to 12), reaching around 3500 students. The result? - a generation of schools and teachers with an excellent knowledge of the sea life at their doorstep, what it looks like, how it works, and the issues and challenges it faces. On the way they learn to think like scientists and are familiar with microscopes, hypotheses, moon phases and zoea. The curriculum framework is cleverly arranged by habitat, with Grade 1 studying rocky shores, Grade 2 sandy shores, Grade 3 estuaries, Grade 4 kelp forests, Grade 5 the open ocean and Grade 6 drawing all they have learned together with the study of islands.

It's 11 May and I am with Josh Lord, a second year grad student who works on the biology of gumboot chitons when he is not teaching. Our first class of 11 and 12 year-olds at Driftwood School, Great Orford, is getting ready for a seabird field trip today and a rocky shores field trip next week, where the students will compare the shore diversity with an early spring trip to the same spot. They have worked with Josh to produce an excellent seabird field guide for today's trip, complete with illustrations and facts on the key species they have researched. They are obviously very proud of it, and have become good at bird ID. Their class discussion shows that they are not only enthusiastic but very knowledgeable about marine ecosystems.

Our next class of 10 and 11 year olds is studying plankton today. They peer through their microscopes, identifying diatoms, copepods and crab megalopa, and Josh talks to them about how some plankton use spikes to deter microscopic predators.
Next it is time for a visit with the Grade 6s to a bird rehabilitation centre, then enthusiastic seabird spotting at Coquille Point through a line of telescopes.

There is just time to get back to OIMB for 5pm and the annual Open House. Is is impressive to see up to 500 elementary students bring their families to see what sort of research their revered grad students are doing, and to introduce their parents to marine biology. Some of the Driftwood School pupils have a table of their own to show off a project they have done on the history and natural history of their local estuary.

Trish Mace, the OIMB GK-12 Programme Co-ordinator, says that the programme benefits everyone. 'The elementary students and teachers learn about their local patch of sea and benefit from OIMB's scientific expertise and equipment, the grad students learn the invaluable skill of communicating complex science, and there is much better awareness of the work of OIMB and of marine stewardship issues across the whole community.' She stresses the strong emphasis on place - building links between local marine life and the local community.

The plan is to make this programme self-sustaining next year, with class teachers taking over from the grad students. To help this work, lesson plans, field trips, powerpoints and other teaching aides are being organised onto DVDs for easy use by teachers. It is hoped that a further round of funding next year can target local High Schools.

Sunnyside Environmental School

On Friday 7 May, forgetting about the UK election results, I spend a fantastic day at Sunnyside Environmental School in Portland. What a riot of colour and interest. Although this is a 'public' or state school, the principal Sarah Taylor, has created a learning environment where life revolves around the seasons, breaking down the artificial barriers between the school, the local community and the natural environment. The curriculum framework involves students aged 6 to 14 in the communal rituals of growing, preparing and eating food, in 'service-learning', or working in the community to solve problems the students have identified, and in plenty of outdoor time to play, to learn about 'real' life and to be. The curriculum framework is built around mountains, forests and rivers - everything is taught through the natural world. I am so impressed by the confidence, level of awareness and maturity of the students, but most of all by their wisdom.

Although Sunnyside is only a few blocks from the centre of the city the small plots of garden around the school contain everything from potatoes for the kitchen to medicinal herbs to gorgeous flowers. There is even a chicken coop to provide fresh eggs.

There is student artwork and colour wherever you look - inside and out. While I am there there is a 'poetry slam', in which 6 year olds read out their beautifully-illustrated poems, then have a celebration with school-cooked food. The whole atmosphere is one of a close-knit supportive community where life is an enriching experience and everyone is valued.

It is a beautiful day, so I chat to the principal outside, while watching a maths class practising long division in chalk on the pavement.

It is certainly a far cry from the grey, hectoring school I attended in Scotland, where joy, individuality and ideas were soon lost without trace in a quagmire of tests and uniformity. It's also a couple of important steps on from what we know in Scotland as 'environmental education'. Once again it is hard to believe that Sunnyside, despite its good test standards in literacy and numeracy, is considered non-conformist and strange by the District and State school authorites, who seem only vaguely aware of what the school actually does.

Underway

On 26 April I, with Tom, my husband and Freya and Kai, my two children, arrived in San Francisco. After a couple of days sorting out transport we made our way northwards 800 miles to Portland, following the wild Pacific coast through northern California...

We were on a voyage of discovery - I to learn about Place-Based Education - a way of teaching and learning that creates happy, confident students who love learning, know a lot about where they belong, and have a keen awareness of and responsibility for their community and the environment.

Roll forward to 6 May, when I have my first PBE meeting - an interview with Professor Greg Smith of Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon. What a fascinating and enthusiastic man! He is one of the founders and key proponents of PBE in the U.S. His efforts have planted the seeds of PBE in many schools and communities across the States. The accounts in his books and during the interview point clearly to the success of the PBE approach and to its continuing grassroots growth. For example he speaks eloquently about Tom Horn at the AL Kennedy Alternative School for credit-deficient students, which bases its curricular framework around five elements of sustainability - forestry, agriculture, energy, architecture and community, and takes a practical, problem-led approach to learning. The result is more engaged and much better educated students. There are many such examples of success. Yet it remains the case that, at State and Federal level, what is considered 'real' school continues to focus on national economic goals and takes a market-based tests and standards approach to education. PBE schools that aim to grow enthusiastic and engaged students with a strong knowledge of the area they belong to, and active participation in local and global social and environmental issues, remain a minority, albeit an organically growing one.