Grants to Support Nature Education Project

Grants from Michelin, 3M, and the Jolley Foundation are funding an innovative project conceived to marry web-based technology and nature education at Lake Conestee Nature Park.

The Conestee Foundation has now secured funding for an extraordinary environmental education project at Lake Conestee Nature Park.  This program recognizes the established benefits of outdoor activity and exercise, experiential learning in a natural environment, and escape from indoor distractions that contribute to sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles.  In his book “Last Child in the Woods”, Richard Louv drew attention to the phenomenon of “nature deficit disorder”.   Louv documented that children who get outdoors have fewer school absences, higher performance on standardized testing, and are less likely to suffer from attention deficit, depression, behavior problems, or obesity.

The objective of the project is to create an innovative environmental education experience that 1.) gets kids outdoors in the natural environment of LCNP, 2.) provides lessons on environmental principles centered around various ecosystems and site features throughout the park, and 3.) utilizes the internet to deliver the related educational content to users.

The project plans call for establishing 25 learning stations along the trails in the park, each with unique signage and information on a core instructional concept.  Examples of learning stations may include lessons on water quality in urban streams, wetland ecology, the fate of sediment and water quality contaminants in the Reedy River watershed, and the importance of different ecosystems for wildlife.  While students, young and old alike, are learning from this circuit of learning stations, they will enjoy the subtle benefits of outdoor exercise, fresh air, and the stimulative effect of the outdoors on their curiosity and observational skills.

The program will target a broad spectrum of audiences, including families, school groups, and scouting groups, but will focus on the unique educational needs of high school and middle school students.  The project will utilize a variety of content delivery systems.  Students, for example, may be able to download audio, graphic, or text content from the internet to a cell phone, smart phone, MP3 player, or portable computer for use in the field, or for study before, during, or after a field trip.

The educational content of the program will be designed to support and complement specific school curriculum requirements in the area of science education.  The Conestee Foundation will work closely with professional educators and technology consultants to implement this project.

We aim to have this project deployed by fall 2011.  Stay tuned to hear more about this exciting project.

View or download official Press Release as a .pdf here.