Nature the Co-teacher: Maintaining lessons from a year outside

By Beth Bailey, Director of Marketing and Communications at The Harley School, featuring interviews with Dr. Terry Fonda Smith, The Harley School’s Head of Lower School, and Kim Bednarcyk, Nursery faculty member

This article has been submitted for inclusion in Independent School magazine, published by the National Association of Independent Schools.

“Before the pandemic students at many schools were often indoors, seated at desks, utilizing whiteboards—a sort of state where children were removed from the world in order to learn about it. This past year impacted how and where kids learn; with the opportunity and expectation to be outside as much as possible, our faculty did a bit of a reset—and before long the great outdoors became the preferred and primary learning space,” says Head of Lower School, Dr. Terry Fonda Smith.

For over one hundred years, The Harley School’s Nursery-Grade 12 students spent time outside: they ice skated on a nearby creek, built makeshift shelters in our nature center, or spent time studying while enjoying springtime sunshine. However, this year being outside took on new importance. Keeping everyone safe during COVID meant our faculty changed up and redeveloped the student day to maximize a variety of outdoor experiences—as well as significantly increasing time spent outside.

What have we learned?

The pandemic allowed us to feel positive about shedding the shell of the physical classroom. Being outdoors is a great prompt for teaching, and being in nature allows everyone to have multi-sensory, heightened experiences just by stepping through a doorway. Humans’ ability to take in information and set the stage for multifaceted learning moments increases with outside time. A study by Ming Kuo, Matthew H. E. M. Browning, and Milbert L. Penner revealed that lessons in nature leave students more able to engage in their next lesson, even as they are busy learning the material at hand. This “refueling in flight” advocates for including more lessons in nature as part of formal education. (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02253/full) Once a class is outside, what teachers do and how everyone learns inherently changes because of the setting.

Our faculty have always felt positive about being in nature with students, but the pandemic made teachers rethink how students were literally equipped to learn outdoors. Every child had rain boots, a raincoat, and a change of clothes for when they got wet or cold outside. The schedule was adapted to allow for changing time from when the students returned from being outdoors. We embraced the statement: “there is no bad weather, just bad [insufficient] clothing.”

Time outdoors gives learners more authentic opportunities to be scientists, to take risks, and to stretch their comfort zones. There is a quality of letting nature lead when teaching outside. For example, visiting Harley’s pollinator garden might lead to a lesson about bees, or where food comes from, or our regional climate. Teachers can then leverage where students’ questions and observations take a lesson which allows for students to learn in an integrated way.

The physical education curriculum at Harley was completely adapted this year so every class could be held outdoors, no matter what the weather. From practicing golf in the snow to cross-country running in drizzling rain, students were challenged in different ways. And the students loved it! Brains and bodies can take in an amazing amount of information when outdoors, it is a great prompt for kids to connect with each other.

Every year at Harley we hold a Lower School Focus Week. Our entire Lower School explores one big essential question or topic, such as: transportation, China, or oceans. This year everyone dug into “The Great Outdoors”—a very timely topic. Grade 2, for example, studied birds and visited a wildlife sanctuary; another class learned about national parks and shared their work with the other classes. Specials teachers, such as our Maker Educator, created “Camp Harley” in our sustainable Commons building, turning one of the rooms into a campsite with tents and a “campfire.” Guest speakers shared information such as: how to give first aid to a teddy bear or all about what a park ranger does at their job. There are big connections students can make when everyone is thinking about the same topic. The best part? Nobody is an expert, everyone has something to contribute and to learn.

What should we hang on to?

Being outside this year for school has inspired our families’ ideas of what to do with their kids. We have shared photos of nearby locations students visited that were recommended by the school to explore. As families change up their relationship to the outdoors and find such experiences are fueling both curiosity and excitement in their children, their relationship to nature can shift. Students began to understand the environment in new ways; and this boosts their feelings about taking care of the world around them and their own ideas about environmental stewardship of the planet.

The world is smaller and more accessible

The necessary use of technology to connect during the pandemic has allowed students greater access to valuable, regional resources and places with their own expanded, remote programming, such as the Monterey Aquarium or Yellowstone National Park. In this way, the world becomes smaller and more accessible; and through live cams or video talks, students are provided with a larger framework and context. Interests fostered outdoors are now able to be broadened thanks to connections that might not have been previously possible. Using technology to reach out and connect with places and people we couldn’t otherwise access helps expand an already well-rounded program.

The more we can foster opportunities for kids to learn authentically in context, the greater their hunger to learn more. Now is an opportune moment to consider what we’re doing in the classroom and how it complements what we’re doing outside of it, so students experience the best learning mix possible. “Learning happens everywhere, of course, but being in nature provides a saturated and fully-stocked environment you can’t replicate indoors,” says Dr. Smith. “It’s so potent and saturated—there’s so much to learn, ask any child, the outdoors is endlessly exciting.”

How do you see this changing education moving forward?

Having everyone outside so much causes faculty to examine and reprioritize how they are teaching. The nursery classes spent more time in our nature center this year and, as one of the teachers, Kim Bednarcyk, observed, “Increased playtime there forced the kids to stop relying on toys so much and get into a lot more creative, nature-based play.

Each day there was something new they were drawn to, and everyone would play together in the same area; however, by the end of the year, each child had their own favorite section they loved and would gravitate toward.Their play evolved, even though they were in the same areas, they were able to draw others into what was appealing or compelling to them…sharing play ideas, building on and incorporating others’ to expand the play scenarios in their familiar settings.”

Students deserve the living laboratory of the outdoors; they are limited without these types of experiences. This is why so many independent schools are committed to sending students on hands-on trips. “Taking our students to Boston for three days, for example, is more powerful than a three-week unit on early American history,” says Dr. Smith. “If we’re smart, we will figure out the best environment (which will be different given the content and level)…authentic, relevant learning is always the best.”

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Harley’s Approach to College Counseling is highly individualized and student-centered. Students have direct access to college counselors throughout their Upper School experience, but really, each student is part of a team including faculty, administration, and staff. It’s our job to support each student and we want nothing more than to send students on to the next step of their journey at a right fit school for them. The student centered and driven process is wrapped in care, expertise, and professionalism.

We host college reps during times students are available (no need to miss a class) so they can make connections and learn more about potential schools. We also arrange campus visits for classes as field trips, host an alumni college day (where recent Upper School graduates return to share advice and answer questions), and help connect students with our international alumni network. In fact, representatives from schools all over the world actively seek opportunities to come to Harley and meet with our students!

Our college counselors are accredited and are part of national/global conversations on admission trends. They also attend and present at conferences across the country.

Beginning with our Grade 11 parent night, we offer informational sessions for parents, including one devoted just to financial aid. Our partnership with families is critical, as the college admissions world changes very quickly and having an expert to guide students and families through the process is essential.

View the downloadable College Counseling Guide

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“Club Rush” is an afternoon every fall in the Upper School when students have the chance to sign up for clubs for the year, and each year it is very different because new clubs are created based on student initiative and enthusiasm.

A few of this year’s choices: Sports Media, Social Action Club, Journalism Club, Feminism Club, Student of Color & Allies (SOCA), Gay-Straight Alliance, Tri M (music honor society), E-Sports Club, Euchre, Key Club (service), Animation Club, Dungeons & Dragons, Sustainability Club, Jewish Cultural Club, Astronomy Club, Biomimicry, and Beyond Soup (social justice/service).

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Each and every year, students at The Harley School participate in HAC Athletics, and their success continues to be impressive, both as students and athletes. Our athletic program is an integral part of Harley, teaching student-athletes invaluable lessons about teamwork, time management, persistence, and competition. Our program allows them to develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally as they represent their school on and off the field. They grow, mature, and work hard to be the best teammate they can, while creating lifelong memories with teammates who often remain friends for life.

Helping our athletes to reach their potential are some of HAC’s best assets: our coaches. More often than not, they are drawn from the ranks of our faculty and have a deep understanding of the personalities and abilities of the student-athletes on their teams.

We strive to find the right balance of academics, exercise, and personal growth for everyone. By offering a variety of sports at many different levels, all student-athletes find a sport they can be successful in. It is with great pride and pleasure that my team and I work to enrich the athletic lives of all our HAC student-athletes. Go Wolves!

To learn more check out our athletics page.

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Our Upper School is filled with formal and informal opportunities for students to take on leadership roles. Whether following passions or learning new skills, student-driven opportunities take many shapes.

– Independent study: one trimester, full year, and multi-year projects have included automating our solar chimneys, coding handmade musical instruments, or developing a class on financial literacy for underserved high school students.

– Serving on student council

– STEM: Climate curriculum program, biomimicry program, NASA Hunch program

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Hospice

Unlike this class, death is not an elective. Although it is one of two universal human experiences, our culture often ignores, denies, or misconstrues the true nature of death and dying. What happens when we bear witness to this natural process in the cycle of life and develop our ability to be fully present with others when they need us more than ever? It has the potential to change us deeply and fundamentally while shining a brilliant light on the path of our own lives.

With the support of their classmates, teacher, and comfort care home communities, senior students are offered the chance to care for others who truly need their purposeful, non-judgmental attention. In the home-like setting of a comfort care home, opportunities for learning extend beyond a traditional classroom rubric and conventional methods of evaluation. In this course, students will certainly find tangible “learning outcomes” by studying the medical/physical processes associated with dying and the basic nursing assistant skills of comfort care. The ultimate goal, however, will always be rooted in true relationships and connection, which occurs only through empathy and compassion.

Learn more about the Hospice Program at Harley HERE.

Capstone/Independent Studies

This program utilizes environmentally-focused approaches to education and hands-on learning in order to foster the next generation of leaders through a lens of sustainability and problem-solving.

Food & Farm: These year-long and trimester-long classes are held outside as much as possible, allowing students to become leaders in our various growing spaces. They cover environmental justice issues as well as hands-on work such as planning and overseeing planting, harvesting, and preparation of the gardens.

Past year-long focus projects have included: Creating a native plant shade garden in the Wild Wood area, redesigning our hydroponic system, overhauling Harley’s high tunnel, and improving the irrigation system for the MicroFarm.

Culinary Arts: These classes have a two-fold purpose: to give students practical skills in cooking and the science behind different techniques in the kitchen, learning about food justice, food sourcing, labor topics, and sustainability.

Past topics have included: Examining a plant-based diet, looking at the carbon footprint of different meals and food preparation methods, proposing a low carbon footprint menu to the dining hall, links between food labeling and environmental issues of food production.

Beekeeping: This one trimester class provides hands-on training in beekeeping, how to be a beekeeper, and safety and other techniques for working with bees. Once trained students help with all aspects of Harley beekeeping such as hive inspections, honey collection and extraction, and teaching students in Lower School about our hives.

Students pick a research topic addressing honeybee health and the larger environmental picture.

Social Justice

At Harley, our students learn how to evaluate social systems in order to identify complex problems in society through a lens of social justice. They take a hands-on approach to working for a fair, equitable society by researching, exploring and evaluating different perspectives, and offering solutions—both theoretical and practical.

Our faculty integrate social justice into our broader curriculum to assist students in gaining a foundational knowledge about what makes a democracy function. By gaining skills in ideating supportive pathways they become more exposed and experienced to how communities can undergo healing and restorative actions.

Capstone/Independent Studies

Students may create independent studies with supervising teachers throughout their Upper School experience or, during Grade 12, they can design Capstone projects—intensive collaborations with Harley faculty and off-campus mentors—involving rigorous academic study and culminating in public presentations. They are empowered to create their own curriculum, set goals, and work on time management skills in order to accomplish their objectives.

Independent Studies run the gamut from The Psychology of Sports to Furniture Design to The Neuroimaging of Alzheimer’s Disease. Capstones, meanwhile, are as diverse as the students who pursue them: Fictional Rochester, Autobiographical Art, Biomimicry Education, Organic Fuel, and Rochester Refugees.

Indicative of Upper School curiosity and creativity, pursuits such as these distinguish our graduates in college. Through deep dives of this sort, Harley students master more than speaking, writing, and computing: they learn to communicate, advocate, collaborate, organize, listen, and empathize.

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Nature the Co-teacher: Maintaining lessons from a year outside