Governor honors science program

Kids in Nature, an outreach program at UC Santa Barbara, received the 2007 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for Children’s Environmental Education on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Kids in Nature is a program designed to help underprivileged students learn more about the environment.

This award is California’s most distinguished environmental honor, according to a press release.

“We’re very proud of our campus,” said Jennifer Thorsch, director of the Kids in Nature program. Thorsch, a professor at UCSB, is also the director of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration at UCSB.

Thorsch said the program was established seven years ago because the campus saw the need for underrepresented elementary school students to have the opportunity to have hands-on experience with nature.

She also said the goal is to have an educated population that can make the right decisions about the future of the environment.

Because of California testing standards, Thorsch said she doesn’t believe that students are really learning science in the most effective manner.

“Because of No Child Left Behind, elementary teachers teach according to test standards,” Thorsch said. “There is no inquiry or exposure.”

The Kids in Nature program, which has already served over 1,300 students, offers seven field trips to places such as UCSB’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, Sedgwick Reserve, and Arroyo Hondo Preserve throughout the calendar year.

During the field trips, each of which are four hours long, Thorsch said the students engage in activities that teach them the importance of preserving the ecosystem.

Thorsch said one of the activities during a typical field trip is to restore the landscape at Sedgwick Reserve. On the landscape, students plant native plants on a plot of 25 square meters, and monitor and observe the plants and how they are being affected by the environment in later field trips.

Linda Corley, a teacher at Ontiveros Elementary School, said her fifth-grade students definitely recognize how they are helping the environment by being a part of the Kids in Nature program.

“The students are transferring what they learn about the environment into their daily lives,” Corley said.

The impact that the Kids in Nature program has had on her students, Corley said, is twofold.

Corley said kids who aren’t normally interested in science are engaged, and that the life and earth science scores on standardized tests have gone up.

Thorsch said the type of activities that the Kids in Nature program offers are the kind that engage students in authentic scientific experiences.

One reason why Thorsch said she thinks the Kids in Nature program is so important is because it enables young girls to develop an interest in the science field.

“Unless you get young girls engaged in the fourth or fifth grade, they get turned off,” she said. “They develop a stereotypical view that women in science are old ladies in white lab coats with gray hair.”

The Kids in Nature program helps further the UC mission statement, Thorsch said.

“Part of the mission statement of the UC system has to do with research, education and public service,” she said. “Kids in Nature fits well under all three categories.”

Both undergraduates and graduates work and serve as mentors to the students, said Thorsch.

In addition, the faculty gives presentations to the students on fields of science ranging from geology to soil science to paleobotany.

Most importantly for Thorsch, she said, is the fact that through public service Kids in Nature breaks down the barriers between academics and community.

“It has gotten a very positive response from parents and the community,” she said.

The Kids in Nature program was one of 18 organizations honored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and only one of two that were honored for Children’s Environmental Education.

“I’m proud to honor this year’s award recipients for their sustained commitment, innovative solutions and strategic investment to protect our environment and boost our economy,” said Gov. Schwarzenegger during the ceremony, according to a press relea-

se.

The Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Awards program was established in 1993.

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