Sparks and Embers

  • Schoolyard Explorations - BEES!

    When many people think about bees, they picture a honey bee. But our native bees are so much more fascinating, valuable, and imperiled. Through place-based project learning and participatory science projects, your students can explore nearby nature and meet the wild bees in their schoolyards and beyond. 

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  • Schoolyard Explorations - BIRDS!

    Wherever we live, we share our spaces with birds. Brian Collins (Teacher of the Year and birder extraordinaire) and Naomi Hadley (Natural Resources Foundation Birdathon Coordinator) will explore how to introduce your students to these fascinating wild neighbors. 

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  • FIELD Corps at High Marq

    Since 2010, High Marq Environmental Charter School has offered a project- and place-based learning alternative for students in and around the Montello School District in rural Marquette County, Wisconsin. The FIELD Corps model of learning through discovery and student inquiry has been at the root of our school’s success from the beginning.

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Articles

Phenomena, Provocations, and Passion
How can we hold fast to the innate curiosity and wonder often present in young children? When do you feel that child-like excitement as a learner? Consider how phenomena and provocations support passion.
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Developing Relationships to Support Inquiry
Bringing student-centered inquiry into the classroom is an important part of implementation of the standards for science, social studies, and environmental literacy and sustainability. Before we can Get Started with Inquiry, we need to first know our learners.  
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Getting Started with Inquiry
Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy & Sustainability state that “students engage in experiences to develop stewardship for the sustainability of natural and cultural systems” (ELS.EN7). Take a closer look at the learning priorities in this standard and you will find that s...
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Lessons Learned Restoring a School Forest
Sometimes the best lessons are the hardest-fought ones. When the students of Fox River Academy, an environmentally focused charter school in Appleton, Wisconsin, identified a section of Pierce Park, adjacent to the school grounds, as an area they wanted to restore, they ran up against a ...
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