A forest classroom

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON - Students in Todd Bryant's ecology class spend the majority of their time together analyzing the diverse landscape surrounding Hampshire Regional High School. The hands-on teaching method, he says, generates impressive results.

On an unusually warm autumn day, Bryant's students filed into his classroom and chatted among themselves while waiting to receive their marching orders: After breaking into groups of three, students would mark off sections of the woods behind the high school and create an inventory of the plant and tree species.

As the 25-member class made their way through the high school's parking lot, Bryant described how his curriculum is rooted in the idea that the best way to learn about earth sciences is to get outside of the classroom and gain first-hand experience.

"We're lucky because this campus is really beautiful and we have all this land to learn from," Bryant said. "We've got streams, a lot of different trees and little bit of everything. So it is really nice for us to be able to get out and actually see it and work with it."

Topics studied already this year include identifying the invertebrates in the streams, and learning how to distinguish among various tree species.

"I've found that when the kids are out here seeing, touching and feeling what they're learning about, they get a sense of ownership and a sense that they are a part of something," Bryant said, "and that is definitely one way of sparking their interest."

As the group headed into the woods, they began taking note of plant life from the forest floor to the canopy above.

"They're looking at what the dominant tree species are, what the understory of the canopy is made up of and what kind of regeneration is going on along the forest floor," Bryant said. "What I want them to be able to do is recognize that there are some tree species out here that maybe they don't know and to see that now they have the means of finding out what they are."

And thanks to the host of topics that fall under the ecology umbrella, Bryant said the fresh-air learning sessions won't be called off during the winter months.

"When you are learning science you want it to be inquiry-based," Bryant said. "You want them to be able to ask intelligent questions and understand the right way to go about getting the answers."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.