Patty Loew:
We begin this week with the No Child Left Inside Act of 2009. A new 500 million dollar initiative to strengthen environmental education. Many kids today are attached to their computers, phones and iPods, but those modern tools are out the door. As "In Wisconsin" reporter Liz Koerner discovers, there is already a classroom that connects kids with nature at Wisconsin's one-of-a-kind Apostle Islands School.
Liz Koerner:
This outdoor odyssey starts with introductions, including the alter egos of the team leaders.
Woman:
All right, I'm Melanie. Eagle!
Liz Koerner:
On a dock in Bayfield, undergrad instructors from the outdoor education program at Northland College introduce themselves to seventh graders from Westfield Middle School. Then they climb aboard a ferry that takes them to a place where cell phones and video games are not allowed. It's called the Apostle Islands School and it is held on Stockton Island, a 15-mile journey across the frigid waves of Lake Superior.
Steve Sandstrom:
The beauty of this program is it offers an incredible opportunity for sixth or seventh graders to visit just a gorgeous place and really connect with nature.
Woman:
Take a deep breath in and let it out.
Liz Koerner:
It's no secret that kids don't connect with nature as often as their parents did. And this connection is critical for a generation charged with addressing problems like global warming. The Apostle Islands School was started in the mid 80s to teach kids about the environment and why it's important to preserve it. It's the only program of its kind in the national park system.
Damon Panek:
I think that we're kind of creating the sense of stewardship and the sense of like the environment being an important thing in their lives and I hope that carries on with them.
Damon Panek:
I am so happy to see you all out here. So glad you all made the chance to get out and be on Stockton Island.
Liz Koerner:
The lessons in stewardship start by getting the kids out on the trail, tuning in to all of their senses.
Woman:
Why do you think it's important that we have these senses?
Laura Schoepehoester:
I think kids today just don't have that experience and to be able to give them that experience is just really amazing.
Boy:
I have learned that you have to use your senses when you're walking through the woods and listen and pay attention to all the birds and like everything that is going on around you.
Liz Koerner:
They also learn a lot by facing their fears.
Steve Sandstrom:
For many of them they've never camped before and so just the experience of being outside and sleeping in a tent. There is a lot of fears of every little sound at night, you know, wondering what it is. And so that is a real learning experience.
Woman:
You think we need them for survival?
Liz Koerner:
The students are taught to face their fears by respecting the wildlife that lives here, even the creepy crawly kind.
Damon Panek:
We talk about wood particulars a lot because they're out there. Kids freak out about that but we teach them how to deal with that.
Liz Koerner:
But it's not just the island wildlife that offers lessons in living in the great outdoors.
Jeff Steckbauer:
We had rain for three days we were here last year and it was amazing. Out of the 34 kids pretty much the 34 kids wanted to come back this year.
Liz Koerner:
In one of the breakout sessions a Native American instructor teaches the kids about his Ojibwa ancestors. Ancestors who considered how their use of this land would affect generations to come.
Leo Gordon-Jourdain:
The people that were here first respected the land and respected one another and that's what the land teaches you.
Leo Gordon-Jourdain:
What is the drum telling you to say?
Liz Koerner:
As part of the history lesson Gordon-Jourdain explains his ancestors were both Ojibwa and French. Their common language was music when they first met here.
Leo Gordon-Jourdain:
I go through all of that with my students here and then finally I just say play something that you feel like inside.
Liz Koerner:
At the Apostle Island School, the kids learn about nature and history. They also learn about each other.
Woman:
I wouldn't want to mess with you two. Anything else you would like to say about yourself?
Emily Wagner:
I really like bonding with the kids out here. It is way different than being in school with everyone else.
Liz Koerner:
And as most teachers know, an essential element in any lesson plan is fun. Each evening the group gathers around the campfire to play games, tell stories, and create memories that are too fun to forget.
Boy:
I can do sticks, dance sticks.
Patty Loew:
That's an experience they'll never forget. Studies show when environmental education is taught, students perform better on standardized tests in reading, math, writing, social studies and science and it also encourages kids to care about environmental stewardship.
