Natural education

Sometimes in life timing is everything.
When district STEAM Coordinator Tom Meagher was first notified that the Minnesota DNR was going to be offering grants for outdoor education, COVID-19 was just barely on the horizon.
“I’ve taught at the nature center outside of McKinley for 20 years and I always thought that it would be nice to have a hub from which we could go out into nature and then regroup,” Meagher explained of his initial idea.
As it turned out, there were others at McKinley who shared Meagher’s enthusiasm for an outdoor learning space including second grade teacher Val Seath. “We were dreaming big and we knew we had a beautiful space with our nature center,” Seath said.
After talking it over with the PTO and staff, Meagher went ahead and applied for the grant. “When we applied for the grant, we were one of 30 projects selected out of 600,” he said. “It was a very competitive grant.”
The $5,000 grant covered some of the cost while the PTO pledged its support for the remainder. “In the meantime, COVID happened and we sent it off for quotes,” Seath recalled. “Mohs Homes gave us a good bid and we moved forward from there.”
“I knew that when we got back to school that an outdoor space would be really important,” Seath said. While the outdoor classroom is a great educational space it is also a perfect addition when it comes to teaching in the time of COVID.
With students and staff following protocol, having a space where students can get outside and take off their masks is a perfect fit. “Just being outside period is useful and it allows for more flexibility,” Seath explained. “Kids can get fresh air and take their masks off.”
“It’s a fantastic way for kids to be learning where they can social distance but it’s also safer outside,” Meagher said. “There’s easily enough room in the nature center for two to three classes to be outside and learn about nature in a safe and healthy manner.”
The outdoor classroom, which is situated besides a 16-plot garden, is designed as a jumping off point for staff to introduce a lesson. “It’s a good place to begin a lesson and the nature center is a few steps away,” Seath said.
When it came to the actual design of the classroom, Meagher was inspired by his own experiences living on a Native American reservation for seven years. “One of the things with Native American education is that people are seated in circles so that everyone has an opportunity to speak and listen,” Meagher said. “We wanted circular seating and partial shelter from the wind and rain.”
The classroom is designed to function year-round, with partial shelter from wind or –as is likely the case in Minnesota– snow. “When we go outdoors there’s not really bad weather, there’s bad clothing,” Meagher joked. “It’s perfect for winter, and the nature center has a lot to offer that time of year.”
Both Meagher and Seath are advocates for outdoor learning, and rightfully so. “My own personal background being a field biologist means this type of learning is something of a passion for me, and its shared by many of the teachers in the district,” he said. “Kids these days don’t have enough exposure to nature as when I was a boy.”
“I think anytime the students can get outside they appreciate it,” Seath said. “There’s a natural curiosity about being outside and by learning through nature we can discover how other things work.”
Seath and Meagher both attest to the teamwork that went into making this space a reality including from the PTO, McKinley garden staff, and Mohs Homes. “The community involvement and the amount of people who worked together is really inspiring, it’s a perfect example of the community coming together to help our kids continue to get quality education,” Seath said.
With the addition of the classroom, and including the nature center and garden, McKinley school sports close to 30 acres of natural space for students to get introduced to outdoor STEAM learning. “Combining the idea for an outdoor meeting classroom and agricultural learning seemed like a good fit,” Meagher said.
McKinley is not alone in the district when it comes to the promotion of STEAM learning outdoors. The Owatonna Middle School is currently building an outdoor classroom on an acre of land. “We converted one acre of mown lawn to a natural prairie space,” Meagher explained.
The nature center is designed to be used by all schools within the district and will continue to inspire students and teachers with new methods and approaches to learning and give them a new appreciation for nature.