Forest Service to do a similar program in Flagstaff, was ecstatic when Peterson reached out.Īpparently, they were on the same wavelength.Įnter Jefferson Land Trust. Taylor, who once worked with the Grand Canyon Trust and the U.S. “I reached out to Jefferson Land Trust two years ago, before COVID hit, wanting to get a fieldwork component,” he said. Jeff Taylor, the new middle school and high school science teacher, had been trying to incorporate an outdoor-based program since 2019. “I’d love to have one our pilot schools in my area,” was Peterson’s thought.Īnd she lucked out. And one of these lucky schools is Quilcene K12 School. “Schoolyards are typically biological deserts,” she said.
Four schools are using their own school yards as restoration sites, which Peterson is thrilled about. Statewide, six schools agreed to participate. “ combines field work restoration with rigorous standards aligned classroom curricula.” “We are asking for a very significant participation from classroom teachers,” Peterson acknowledged. Next, was getting local schools on board. This new model would get kids outside, on the land, to see the science happen. The program was designed to replace existing middle school life science curriculum, which focuses on ecosystems. With a statewide knowledge base, and a trained stewardship program, the Native Plant Society was the obvious choice, she said. “I needed an expert partner,” Peterson said, to make her five-week curriculum and restoration project concept succeed. “There’s a lot of theoretical support, very little actual support for teachers to do that,” she said during a recent Zoom call.
A background in environmental science and curriculum writing was key to her using the classroom as a “launchpad” for project-based learning. And by partnering with the Jefferson Land Trust and six state schools, she’s been able to do just that, launching the Youth Ecology Education Restoration pilot program this fall.īefore joining the Washington Native Plant Society as YEER coordinator full-time, Peterson was a seventh-grade teacher at a private school in Seattle. Laura Jean Peterson was looking for a way to bring the classroom outdoors.