Teaching outdoors, a big Vegetable Project priority, continues to gain steam.
The Grand Rapids, Mich., school district plans to “create outdoor educational experiences” for all of its 16,700 students, according to an account at mlive.com. (Thanks to the Children & Nature Network for bringing the news article to our attention.)
With leadership from a nearby teachers’ college and local foundation funding, a three-year pilot project is slated to start next fall.
Clayton Pelon, associate director of the Center for Educational Partnerships in the College of Education at Grand Valley State University, explained, according to the mlive.com article, that schools are moving to “offer an outdoor education experience because research shows there are benefits to moving students outside of the four walls of a classroom to explore and discover the world around them.”
That’s our reading as well.
–Bill Stoneman
