Article by: Beth Hunt of KATV
Arkansas schools can now apply for grants aimed at getting students out of the classroom and into nature, with nearly $690,000 available statewide for conservation education and outdoor recreation projects.
At Terry Elementary in Little Rock, similar funding from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has already helped turn the school’s 14-acre campus into a hands-on classroom.
On a trail behind the school, first graders search for insects, plants and other living things while learning about the environment around them. “Anything that moves, they’re like, ‘Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!’ and then they want to know more,” first-grade teacher Debbie Gross said.
The school’s outdoor learning space was made possible, in part, through a Wildlife Conservation Grant from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The money for the grants comes from fines collected from citations issued by AGFC wildlife officers. Those funds remain in the county where the citation was issued before being made available for conservation education. “Those are rolled over into what we call our wildlife conservation grants,” said Mary Beth Hatch, AGFC chief of education.
This year, nearly $690,000 is available statewide for school projects focused on conservation and outdoor recreation. The grants can be used for a variety of educational opportunities, including field trips to AGFC nature centers and fish hatcheries, archery and trap shooting programs, outdoor classroom supplies, wildlife and butterfly habitats, conservation education materials, and other outdoor learning activities.
Hatch said the goal is to give students opportunities to apply what they learn in traditional subjects to the world around them. “Students are applying what they’re learning in their science, math, language arts classrooms, and they’re thinking about it from a real-world perspective, specifically the world that’s outside,” Hatch said.
Terry Elementary received a conservation grant last year while working toward its designation as a School of Conservation Leadership. Since then, school leaders have continued finding ways to incorporate conservation and outdoor learning throughout the school day. “We have a trail out back that our students get to go in and listen to nature and see it. We have our archery team — there are so many different ways,” Principal Aimee Young said.
Conservation concepts extend beyond science lessons. Students use natural materials in art projects, participate in an outdoor book club, practice archery and explore the school grounds to learn more about the plants and animals living around them.
For 8-year-old second grader David, that has meant plenty of discoveries. “We went outside to find bugs, and we found a roly-poly, an ant colony, and three spiders,” he said.
Gross said the excitement students develop outside often follows them back into the classroom. “It spills over into reading books about them,” she said. “They’re interested in learning new information.”
AGFC officials say schools do not need sprawling rural campuses to give students meaningful experiences with nature. “Even if you’re in the middle of downtown Little Rock, there are still species that live and have made your school home a habitat,” Hatch said.
Rather than prescribing one type of project, AGFC wants schools to develop conservation efforts that work for their students, campuses and communities. “Our big focus is really getting students outside and applying their learning to the real world,” Hatch said.
At Terry Elementary, educators say that approach is helping students understand not only what exists in the natural world, but why protecting it matters. David offered his own explanation. “It’s because nature is the only thing that we need, because we need to breathe,” he said. “The trees and the animals make us breathe. When they breathe, we get to breathe.”
For AGFC, building that kind of connection is at the heart of the Wildlife Conservation Grants, helping more Arkansas students experience the natural world firsthand and see conservation as part of their everyday lives.
Applications for Wildlife Conservation Grants are open to public, private, and charter schools, but the deadline is November 12th. To see the grant money available by county, CLICK HERE.
To apply for the grant, visit the AR Economic Development Commission website for more information.