Lydia Tropeano, environmental education program coordinator for the Solano Resource Conservation District, speaks with a group of sixth-grade students from Dixon Montessori Charter School as they lead a science field trip around Rush Ranch’s Suisan Wetland. (Reporter file/Joel Rosenbaum)
Learning by doing has a fancy name: kinestheticism. Many educators believe that this hands-on approach to learning, combined with attention and engagement, creates a true emotional response and makes learning more memorable. Having activities outdoors definitely extends the learning experience beyond the classroom and traditional teaching methods.
That, in part, may be the philosophy behind the annual science experience program in which the Solano County Resource Conservation District takes Solano County sixth-graders to the Suisan Wetlands.
Starting this month and running through December, students will spend time learning about their local watershed and reinforcing that learning through hands-on science activities at the wetland, the largest brackish wetland on the West Coast and considered part of the San Francisco Bay estuary. spend.
Approximately 1,200 sixth grade students from Vacaville, Vallejo, Dixon, Rio Vista, Benicia and Fairfield will participate in the program. This includes his three in-class lessons with RCD staff and a field trip to Rush Ranch Open Space, located at 3521 Grizzly Island Road, just south of Suisun City.
The program will feature two classrooms where students will learn about their watersheds and the importance of preventing pollution from stormwater using 3D environmental landscape models, RCD Education Program Manager Shea Kinser said in a press statement. It will begin with classes, it said in a press statement. They will also learn more about the “important role that wetlands play in the region’s ecosystem” and get a preview of what they will experience on the field trip, she added.
The ranch, owned by the Solano Land Trust Rush Ranch, with its towering eucalyptus trees, offers lessons about the importance of our region’s water resources through three science stations, Kinser said. Told.
Scientists are practicing collecting data that will provide evidence for questions about how human activities affect watershed health, she explained in a prepared statement. Year 6 students learn how pollution can affect water quality and test their own bog water. They will learn about her two different environments in the bog, identify plants that live in grasslands and wetlands, observe the soil in the two habitats, and consider how drought affects the landscape.
“It’s great to see students learning while being outside and enjoying nature,” said Diane Martin, a teacher at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo. It gives you an appreciation for water resources and the environment as a whole.”
Participants said they enjoyed the overall tranquility and beautiful scenery of the wetland environment on this year’s field trip. Students use binoculars to look for birds and butterflies and spend time writing and drawing about their experiences under the shade of the trees.
In addition to important hands-on learning experiences, Kinser said field trips give students an opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the natural world.
The final lesson of the program, held after the field trip, teaches students about the sources of drinking water and reminds them of the importance of conserving water.
Kinzer noted that the classroom and field trip curriculum meets California’s Next Generation Science Standards and allows students to participate in inquiry-based learning.
“We are giving students an opportunity to see up close the open spaces and water resources they have been studying,” she said. “This helps children understand the importance of these places as they learn to be stewards of their environment.”
RCD’s Suisun Marsh Watershed Program is free to participating schools. This program is made possible by the Solano County Water Agency. Solano County Resource Management Agency. Vallejo Flood and Sewer District, Solano County Orderly Growth Commission, Fairfield-Suisan Sewer District, Vacaville Public Education Foundation, and Benicia-Valero Refinery (in partnership with Suisan Resource Conservation District).
For more information about the Suisun Marsh Watershed Program and Solano RCD’s other education programs, visit www.solanorcd.org or email education@solanorcd.org.