“Ask Questions, Make Mistakes, and Get Dirty!”

In the second half of the 2011-12 school year the Earth Task Force (ETF), sponsored by the Cottonwood Institute, teamed up with the Science Adventure Program (SAP) for games, mentoring, and exploration.

SAP is an after school program for elementary school students, which inspires student to: “Ask questions, make mistakes, and get dirty!” The idea to team up with a younger group of students grew out of the ETF Fall retreat when ETFers expressed interest in tiered learning and mentoring, in order to connect more with their world. This year the multi-generational group of students went on three different adventures together to explore their community.

In February they went to the C.U. Museum of Natural History for an afternoon of fun, games, and education. After a name game outside they headed into the museum to explore dinosaurs, pine beetles, smog, pollinators and more.

Both the ETF and SAP members shared ages, favorite projects, and why they love nature. Aaron Fox (ETF alumni) showed off his famous super hero costume and explained how ETF teaches students about the importance of the environment while being fun and silly. All of the SAP members shared inspiring reasons why they love nature and told the ETF about the time they saw their teacher, Ms. Muskrat’s, python eat a whole rat! Both the high school students and the elementary students were nervous to meet each other. The nerves didn’t last long though…

In March, ETF and SAP met up on SAP’s home turf near their elementary school. SAP students challenged the ETF to a nature scavenger hunt and ETF challenged SAP to clean up the creek as they walked along. At the end of the outdoor exploration, the students returned to SAP headquarters to meet Freddy Mercury, the Ball Python, the backyard hens, and more.

In April, ETF and SAP celebrated spring with a hula-hooping lesson on New Vista High School’s front lawn. Any tired teachers leaving school at the end of that day had their spirits lifted by multi-generational hula-hooping tricks!

ETF plans to continue their relationship with SAP into next year, expanding on this great new program with new mentoring ideas, shared service projects, and more.

Learn more about the Science Adventure Program here: http://www.scienceadventureprogram.com/
Written by Remy Barrows-O’Neil and Paige Doughty