Milner Gardens Professional Community Learning Fieldtrip

In addition to our routine educational experiences as part of the Bachelor of Education course and the workshops and other experiences offered through Club Education (Club Ed), my fellow students and I also have the opportunity to take part in Professional Community Learning (PCL) experiences. These experiences mirror the professional development a full-fledged teacher would undertake as part of their career. The importance of these workshops cannot be underestimated as they provide unique opportunities to learn more about our discipline and teaching strategies. It is important never to lose sight of the fact that it is my duty to do all I can to best prepare for teaching, as it revolves around the most important assets this country possesses - our children!

The first PCL experience involved a fieldtrip to Milner Gardens (near Qualicum, on Vancouver Island) to learn about teaching to classes of schoolchildren within a nature setting. The fieldtrip was led by Pam Murray, Lead Interpretive Guide at Milner Gardens. We were also accompanied by Professor Paige Fisher, from VIU's educational faculty.

On arriving at Milner Gardens, we were met by Pam, formed a circle and were encouraged to number off. We then mixed up the circle and stated our numbers again. Doing this helps the students to learn their number and helps to keep track of students as you traverse through the landscape. It is best to have the children number off after each event and before moving on to other areas. During this time we also discussed the importance of preparing the students for their visit, and having activities after the visit to make best use of the learning opportunity. Paige equated the visit to the centre section of an hourglass, with the vast bulk of the work both ahead and behind the visit. Preparation can even include lessons in how to walk properly in the landscape, ensuring safety and minimum disturbance to the ecosystem. It is also important to ensure that students will be appropriately dressed (with appropriate footwear) and have sufficient food and water with them. Paige told us that the major cause of bad behaviour is that the students are cold, hungry or thirsty. Milner Gardens stocks extra clothing to help those students who have come poorly prepared.

We made our way down towards the gentrified area of the gardens, traversing a fallen trunk in the process. Pam strongly believes that children should be encouraged to take risks and, for this reason, also has a tree that she uses for the express purpose of climbing. She feels that grown-ups nowadays have forgotten the rewards of taking risks, such as development of motor skills, confidence and teamwork, and are more apt to worry unduly about the dangers, passing on their fear to the students. If you never have an opportunity to climb a tree, you will never develop the skill to do so. I agree with this philosophy and can apply it to many facets of my own life. For example, I have just painted our as-yet-unborn baby's nursery. I made quite a mess of it and did some things that, in retrospect, could have been done much more easily but I learned from my mistakes and got there in the end! We also need students to appreciate that learning often does not come easily, and that it's often good if this involves some risk. Tellingly, Pam revealed that there have been no injuries so far from students traversing the fallen trunk or climbing the tree. We discussed liability and the importance of keeping the school and parents well informed of activities to be undertaken, in addition to ensuring that activities are appropriate for age and ability. This also extends into making sure that students in wheelchairs can become as fully involved as possible.

Sadly, Pam has found that recent students she has taught at Milner have not known what to do with themselves as they are so unused to being outside in nature. For these students, she finds it helpful to have them close their eyes and silently listen to their surroundings. By doing this they gain a closer appreciation of the space they are in and are able to adjust a little better to their surroundings. Pam often finds that the students who don't cope so well in the classroom tend to flourish when they are outdoors, as they are so stimulated and this environment meshes well with their learning style.

Our group stopped underneath the katsura tree, an East Asian variety that smells strongly of caramel in the fall. Here she gave us small paper cups, defined our geographical boundaries and had us collect from the ground the items that we thought smelled nice. We then had to stir these items together to create our fragrance. Once we had made our fragrance we got into a circle and passed our fragrance round the rest of the students. For younger students, Pam suggested having them form into pairs as cups are often dropped and it helps them to better engage with each other. The variety of fragrances was astonishing and is a great way to have the students take a keener interest in their surroundings, using their senses of vision, smell, touch and, to a certain extent, hearing -- be it running water or the crinkle of leaves underfoot. Another exercise she showed us was to have the students rub their hands together to create warmth, covering their ears, eyes and nose in turn. This way the students learn to use their senses more to fully experience what the environment has to teach them.

On our way back to the bus, Pam had us play a game on a woodland trail. She gave us each a card with photograph of a plant or tree along with some information about it, and had us find them on a certain stretch of the path. Cards with their lay and scientific names were attached to the plant or tree. On finding a match, students were to alert Pam who would then hand out the next card or tell the student (if they were mistaken) that they were to continue the search. This is a good way to have students gain a greater appreciation of the plants and trees around them, while also taking part in a competitive game. The game can be tailored to however much time you have left and is therefore usual to do at the end of the visit.

Overall, I now feel more confident about taking students into nature and helping to make best use of our time there to engage them and incite in them a passion for the outdoors. I also recognize the need for appropriate preparedness, to deal with students' mental and physical needs.