Connecting Children to Nature

Inside the Outdoors’ What About Water? program builds tomorrow's environmental leaders through Traveling Scientist and Service-Learning lessons that empower, engage, and educate students, teachers, and the community on water issues, awareness and conservation practices.

Hands-on lessons allow students to interact with a science concept, rather than just read about it or hear about it in a lecture, bringing the concept to life. Students may read about water recycling, but not really understand the process until they perform an experiment to separate coffee grounds from waste water. They may hear about water conservation from their teacher, but not grasp how important that is until they see the impact of the drought on a local freshwater pond. Research shows that hands-on lessons allow students of all learning styles to engage actively and retain what they have learned.

Two Traveling Scientist visits turn classrooms into hands-on science laboratories where students examine the water cycle, learn how pollution enters the watershed, conduct campus and home water audits, and develop ways to conserve water. Service-Learning gives students a voice and turns lessons into real-life action when they develop and implement a campus/environmental stewardship project to engage peers and the public in meaningful conservation efforts.

Service-Learning focuses on results-oriented activities that reinforce water education lessons by connecting classroom concepts to real-life projects. Change is more likely to be sustained when students learn AND take action. Research shows that Service-Learning has a lasting impact on communities as students become leaders with a voice in finding the solutions to societal issues.

Water Expos help students become educators as the entire campus is engaged in environmental stewardship activities such as water surveys, poster presentations, and lunch time interactive water education exhibits and games while encouraging water conservation pledges from their peers. Inside the Outdoors helps to host these 1-day water education fairs where student created education materials such as posters, PSA’s and newsletters enhance the education campus-wide.

The goal of What About Water programs and Water Expos are to sustain long-term water awareness, water conservation practices and behavior changes at schools and in the community.

While the need for science continues to rise, school budgets continue to be slashed, forcing schools to cut field trips, science labs, and other resources vital to reversing those negative trends. Community support is needed to restore resources to the classroom and improve academic outcomes as more than 60% of the students served by ITO come from impoverished communities, where students require sponsorships to attend. Funding from the Municipal Water District of Orange County and COX Charities make programs like What About Water? available to low-income students and underserved communities while promoting environmental conservation and stewardship.

“Service-Learning projects have helped me recognize and better understand my own strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the process, I’ve also learned that, no matter my age, I do have the ability to make a significant and worthwhile change in my community.” - Allison C., student from Mission Viejo HS

Quotes from What About Water? Participants

“I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about water.” -Student, Mission Viejo HS

“We had even more traffic at our Water Expo this year. The students created games to engage their peers and encouraged everyone to make a water pledge.” -Gwen Harris, Health Science Teacher – El Toro HS

“We are so thankful for the amazing partnership we’ve forged with Inside the Outdoors. The Water Expo provided a wonderful creative outlet for students to take what they’ve learned and share it with others.” -Andrea Ramos, AP Environmental Science Teacher – Brea Olinda HS

Fun Facts - Student Research

• It takes 3 gallons of water to flush a toilet
• Showers use 2.5 gallons per minute
• An average of 167 water bottles are consumed per person each year in the U.S.
• The U.S. uses 400 billion gallons of water each day
• It takes 900 gallons of water to produce an 8 oz. steak and only 20 gallons to produce a half pound of vegetables
• .024% of the world’s water is available to us as liquid freshwater
• 5.7 billion gallons of water is used to flush toilets annually in the U.S.
• The average household drinks 1600 – 2000 gallons of water each year
• Tap water costs $.004 per gallon, Bottled water costs $1.22 per gallon
• Households can save an average of $1825 - $2312 per year by drinking filter water at home instead of buying bottled water

If you were asked to share your first fond memory of science, you might cringe.  Or, you might have a flashback to a class where you struggled to pass a test. You might not be able to recall a memory.  But what if you were asked to describe your first fond memory seeing a hummingbird hover over a flower or a meteor shower in the night sky? It is likely that you can vividly describe a similar experience right down to where you were and what you felt.

Experiences in nature often produce moments of awe that leave impressions of a lifetime. In "Awesome awe: The emotion that gives us superpowers," New Scientist author Jo Merchant shared that "awe is the feeling we get when we are confronted by something that transcends our frame of reference."  According to Merchant, scientists have found that awe can be reliably reproduced in nature.  And, it is such powerful emotion that "even mild awe can change our attitudes and behavior."

So where do the experiences students have with Inside the Outdoors fit into the equation?  

Imagine if you're a 5th grade student from a community where your playground is the street or a vacant lot. Where community members have access to 20 feet of open space (your mattress is probably about 27 square feet). You cannot go to the park because there isn't one in your neighborhood.

You head to school one morning and board a bus for your Inside the Outdoors field trip. Upon arrival at the field trip site, you step off the bus and you smell the ocean.  You hear the waves crashing on the rocks.  You see a vast ocean, birds searching for food, and tide pools teaming with life. Science becomes real. It becomes awesome. 

After the field trip, you remember how you felt, what you saw, and what you learned.  When your teacher talks about adaptation, you think about the tiny little crabs who have figured out how to live in the intertidal zone. You connected with something bigger than yourself and science made that happen.

What if you're a high school student in an alternative education situation because you've given up on learning?  You come to class each day pretty sure no one can surprise you or make you care. But your teacher is determined to give you the best chance at learning so he invites an Inside the Outdoors' Traveling Scientist to visit the class.  Five minutes into the visit, you hear the call of a hawk. You look around the classroom and see canvas covering what looks like a large animal travel crate. Soon, the Traveling Scientist introduces Apollo, a majestic redtail hawk. Apollo spreads his wings and you can see his eyes, talons, and beak. You hear that Apollo is part of Inside the Outdoors because someone thought it would be a good idea to remove him from his nest as a baby.  He's imprinted.  You are determined to learn everything you can about this beautiful creature and you'll remember him for the rest of your life.  You decide at that moment to become a wildlife biologist or a park ranger.  You realize that you're excited about learning and that you can actually learn. Suddenly, one experience with a hawk changes your trajectory.

The moments of awe described above are real experiences described by students who participated in an Inside the Outdoors program.  Similar experiences are replicated every day of the school year and throughout the summer thanks to the generous community support Inside the Outdoors Foundation receives from community members. 

Thank you for helping us create moments of awe.