Our most important goal is to develop skills which help us live together better. We as a staff live this goal ourselves. Our relationship as a unit (teachers, cooks, medical and maintenance staff, and administrators) is introduced and constantly examined. A secondary goal is to achieve a better understanding of how our life support system works. This is more than nature study; it is a subtle springboard to our main goal of living together. Our FIELD GROUP CURRICULA GUIDE is a resource to be used by NC teachers for planning activities that help the students understand the concepts pertaining to this goal. This resource can be found among the texts in the Nature's Classroom Institute office library. Approximately 25% of the students waking time (each morning, plus several other time blocks) is spent in field group. Emphasis for the field group is cognitive learning and social dynamics. For each individual the environment has three aspects: 1) the natural world, 2) the social world, which is composed of other people and their actions, and 3) the unique environment of his/her own perceptions and feelings. During field walks, the student will explore the natural world (studying environmental science), the social world (to gain interpersonal communication skills and to practice cooperative living), and the internal world (where aesthetics affect his/her sense of well-being).

Environmental education is the study of all things surrounding us which affect our existence. It is our expectation that you and the students you teach will be investigating and discovering some of these particulars. We can't teach students about every interacting system that touches their lives; we can expect them to conceptually understand that our whole physical world and human existence is interdependent with nature. After discovering a scientific particular, try to draw out a generalization. What makes up the life support of the student's community? Are industry and farming a part of their system? Are banks, hospitals, and schools supporting spokes in the "wheel of life?" Relate this to the residential stay at NC. Who produces the food, brings it to us, and cooks it for us? Does each person take part in the serving and cleanup process? We are all special, unique people valuable in the total operation of living. How does each person interact in this social world? What are the student's rights and responsibilities to the other students and adults around them? What are the results of their actions?

Another secondary goal is more definitive; this goal is to motivate a child to learn, particularly in, but not limited to, the classroom setting. Our two volume curricula guide, AND THIS OUR LIFE, (found in the resource library), provides many different activities which attempt to excite a student to learn but individual teacher backgrounds provide even more of this excitement. The children will freely choose your afternoon classes, therefore, make use of the thrill of discovery, construct something exciting, and/or introduce them to a subject above their current intellectual abilities. In short, try to develop the desire to actively become involved in learning... which many times will require them to give up free time, TV, and/or sports. The class that is able to attain this goal of learning motivation will have to be pretty exciting. Please don't do anything that a teacher is likely to do in a classroom.

Use the concept of interacting in afternoon classes. It is this connection to the "real world" that makes learning more meaningful. Through ignorance we cannot see the contribution a tree makes to our lives, the effect a garbage collector has on our cities, or the relationship a skill learned in school has to our future. Math, science, humanities, and social studies are all interacting subjects which bring fullness to our existence.

The emphasis for afternoon classes, the academic environment at Nature's Classroom, is on learning motivation. Certain factors influence motivation: relevance, active participation, and self-concept. The goals of the afternoon classes are for the child to: -- choose the classes he/she is interest in, --actively learn by doing, --understand and recognize the relationships between the major subject areas, --work towards an attainable goal; understand the importance of goal-setting, --improve his/her self-concept, --gain an understanding of the personal value she/he can gain from education. The children hear introductions of various classes and choose the classes they would like to participate in. The act of choosing the classes they want provides the opportunity to participate actively in the learning process, an important factor in learning motivation. Choosing gets the child involved personally; the class becomes meaningful to him/her from that point on.

In the class itself, the children are active, rather than passively listening or viewing. Ways are found to relate what they are learning and doing -- to themselves on a personal level. It is important to focus on "...the intellectual curiosity of students, their desire to understand, and their need for self-esteem. If learning...has be intrinsically satisfying, if curiosity has been fostered, and if students can confirm the social utility of knowledge, it is likely that questioning and searching will continue" (Samuel C. Ericksen, Motivation for Learning).

The classes show the relationships of the four basic subjects: math, science, language arts, and social science. In most classes, language arts and social science are not specifically distinct. Communication must be developed to a certain degree to understand the material presented, to formulate questions, and to relate to the teacher and peers present in the class. Social science is the means by which people communicate and relate in a social setting. An example is the building of a Geodome, or geodesic dome, which requires skills in geometry (math), physics (science), group cooperation (social science), and communication (language arts).

Goal-setting is a key aspect of motivation from the standpoint of reinforcement. Goal-setting is important to the individual and to the group. The group must satisfy the individual child's interest in an obvious way; the child wants group approval as well. Simply stated, the child must want something, must notice how to go about getting what she/he wants, must act, and must get what he/she wants. "If we want learners to feel that they can succeed, we must help them to experience success" (James A. Beane). In example, if a child wants to build a bridge, she/he will choose that class, pay attention to find out how it can be done, and will cooperate with others so that it can be done in the allocated time. In return, the child will get the satisfaction of having completed what he/she set out to do.

Nature's Classroom Institute is a valuable extension of the schoolroom, a place where children begin to see the value of their education. To a greater extent, it broadens their perspective that learning is not all textbooks, not all at a desk, but that these things are necessary to do other, more exciting things. The classes at Nature's Classroom Institute are high interest, high impact activities. The purpose is to motivate children through the class and bring the interest back to the schoolroom. The hands-on learning experience provides the impact to get the child excited about the learning process; the child begins to see that he/she needs more skills in order to do exciting things. Therefore, a link is made between what goes on in school and the outside world, an interest is developed for the child to obtain the kinds of skills that will be needed when the child leaves school or when she/he continues further education, to pursue career goals, whatever they may be. Again, every class is designed that in order to do the class activity, the child needs certain skills... skills obtained in school.

Therefore, another goal of Nature's Classroom Institute's afternoon classes is to motivate the child to learn in the classroom, but not be limited to it. Lesson plans in And This Our Life, Volumes I and II, provide many different activities which attempt to excite a child to learn. The Nature's Classroom teacher's own background provides more. Nature's Classroom teachers are prompted to make use of the thrill of discovering and construct intellectual abilities. In short, the Nature's Classroom Institute teacher tries to develop the desire for each child to become actively involved in learning.

In summary, the children independently choose the class they would like to participate in. Classes show the interrelationships of subjects, make a link between schoolwork and the "real" worlds, and provide an opportunity for executing skills. Learning motivation is enhanced because the classes are high interest, high impact activities; that is, they are very active, very experience-oriented. Classes have specific goals; the children meet those goals; high satisfactions results, and their self-esteem grows.