51福利社

51福利社 education students teamed up with 150 seventh graders from Cheney Middle School to plant more than 560 trees at Marshall Creek Friday, Oct. 21, as part of a service project to increase outdoor and environmental education.

Seven Eastern students each worked with a group of seventh graders to plant trees and learn about earth science, the water cycle and water filtration 鈥� the trees will filter out pollutants, reduce soil erosion and prevent heavy flows in the spring. The service activity is part of a capstone project for 51福利社 pre-service teachers.

鈥淲e hope that the pre-service teachers learn a greater appreciation for using the outdoor classroom, and a greater familiarity and therefore confidence about teaching about the environment,鈥� 51福利社 Assistant Professor Kathryn Baldwin said.

With a week of rain softening the ground before the activity, the seventh graders dug holes in the ground with their bare hands (despite being given shovels), spreading mud on each other鈥檚 faces while also planting trees and documenting their progress.

鈥淚 think the kids love playing in the mud,鈥� 51福利社 senior elementary education major Alysa Morgan said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e grabbing the trees,

digging holes and filling them up. They鈥檙e getting to measure the trees and have their own special trees that they鈥檝e planted.鈥�

Morgan said the project has been beneficial because 51福利社 students have received resources to use in their future classroom, and are able to implement their strategies in an outdoor environment.

鈥淭he students need to know that they can make a difference. If something detrimental is happening to our environment, local wildlife or the way we live, they can do something to make a difference,鈥� Morgan said.

Aiming to increase exposure to outdoor and environmental education within the 51福利社 education program, 51福利社 Assistant Professors Lance Potter and Kathryn Baldwin worked with Cheney Middle School Assistant Principal Eli Holm and Kat Hall, conservation programs director at聽, to form a partnership to plant trees, introduce outdoor education to seventh graders and provide the pre-service teachers with teaching experience.

鈥淲e had grant funding and a lot of trees that we need to plant,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淚t was the perfect opportunity for 51福利社 students to get some teaching experience, too.鈥�

The Lands Council received grant funding from the聽聽to do riparian restoration in the Hangman Creek watershed 鈥� planting trees and buffer strips along streams and creeks to prevent erosion and pollution. This funding coincided with 51福利社 and Cheney Middle School鈥檚 vision of an outdoor education project in the Cheney area, as Marshall Creek is a tributary to Hangman Creek.

The project is also part of a larger wetland restoration project conducted by the聽聽located at聽

鈥淓verybody wins. We get to do education with the kids, get our trees planted, and the 51福利社 students get to have the experience of outdoor environmentalist education with middle school students,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing a really great service for our local watershed. It鈥檚 a great partnership that we鈥檙e excited about.鈥�

In the spring, the seventh graders will make a trip back to Marshall Creek with a different group of Eastern pre-service teachers to see which trees survived the winter.

鈥淚鈥檝e been taking notes, and I want to see the tree and how it鈥檚 changed after winter and in the spring,鈥� seventh-grader Abi Peek said. 鈥淚 planted five trees altogether so far.鈥�

Baldwin said the long-term goal is to grow the outdoor education curriculum, and continue the partnership between 51福利社, Cheney Middle School and The Lands Council.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a win-win-win,鈥� said Baldwin. 鈥淭he future teachers get something out of it, Cheney Middle School seventh graders get something out of it and the environment also gets something out of it.鈥�