The high school’s natural classroom is at the corner of North Campbell Station Road and the entrance to the high school. It’s used to teach students about the local environment through, for instance, water-quality monitoring of rainwater runoff from the school campus.
“It is fantastic to teach outside, and the students were able to concentrate more in a different environment,” said Nick Reynon, an honors environmental science and biology teacher at FHS.
There are challenges utilizing the resource, however, including limited available technology, maintenance and upkeep and the need for signed permission slips every time a teacher wants to take students to the site.
“The outdoor classroom is awesome,” said FHS honors biology teacher Jennifer Krouse.
“The only disadvantage is that it is counted as off-campus, and teachers need to complete a field trip form in order to take students down there,” Krouse said.
That may be the reason its use as an educational resource has declined recently. Outdoor learning greatly benefits students developmentally, but the required process of submission of the field trip form limits teacher interest.
The outdoor classroom is an optional resource, so its use fully depends on teachers. The classroom is always available, but teachers with a busy schedule prefer to save time rather than complete and submit the required field trip forms. Less coordination and communication is needed staying indoors in their own classroom.
Some teachers still support and use the outdoor classroom, regardless of how cumbersome it can be to access.
“The field trip form requirement is strange, but I always like to take my students down there,” said Lauren George-Smith, an AP environmental science teacher. She said the site is used for water-quality monitoring as well as plant storage and gardens.
Students at the high school indicate they are very interested in the outdoor classroom, and would love to see it used more.
“It looks cool! I would like to have lessons there with Mrs. Krouse,” said Claire Zhou, an AP biology student.
“I’ve walked down there with my NIC Rehab Career class. The outdoor classroom is very nice. The only inconvenience is no technology,” said FHS junior Ria Padhye. Students could only use cellular data to access the Internet.
“I’ve never been there before, but I believe our school should promote it more as students want to have the chance to learn outdoors,” said FHS junior Summer Wu.