Farmgirl70 Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 My kids have been involved for 7 years in a weekly 6 hour Nature Awareness class. Here is a course description: Long term mentoring of youth in nature is a foundation of our department.* We aim to foster deep connections to nature while helping students achieve personal goals in this environment.* Whether it is learning to identify 20 species of birds by song, how to track coyotes, or how to build a debris shelter, each student follows their own passion in nature.*** Our instructors mentor the students through the art of questioning* and by their own individual expertise and passions in specific natural history subjects. Our core routines include: Hazards Sit spots Journaling Mapping Wandering and exploration Tracking Survival skills Plant identification Animal behaviors Bird identification and songs and more Learning was VERY hands on and interactive. Their instructors have degrees in things like Environmental Studies, Biology, etc and some have worked extensively in Field Biology. The time spent is definitely enough to credit for a full course. My daughter would have three years of this in high school. My questions: What would you call this? (It is called Nature Awareness by the group that offers the course) Would you call it this or try to make it sound more typical? Would you give credit for each year? (Like Nature Awareness 1, 2 and 3 ?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaAkins Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 My kids have been involved for 7 years in a weekly 6 hour Nature Awareness class. Here is a course description: Long term mentoring of youth in nature is a foundation of our department.* We aim to foster deep connections to nature while helping students achieve personal goals in this environment.* Whether it is learning to identify 20 species of birds by song, how to track coyotes, or how to build a debris shelter, each student follows their own passion in nature.*** Our instructors mentor the students through the art of questioning* and by their own individual expertise and passions in specific natural history subjects. Our core routines include: Hazards Sit spots Journaling Mapping Wandering and exploration Tracking Survival skills Plant identification Animal behaviors Bird identification and songs and more Learning was VERY hands on and interactive. Their instructors have degrees in things like Environmental Studies, Biology, etc and some have worked extensively in Field Biology. The time spent is definitely enough to credit for a full course. My daughter would have three years of this in high school. My questions: What would you call this? (It is called Nature Awareness by the group that offers the course) Would you call it this or try to make it sound more typical? Would you give credit for each year? (Like Nature Awareness 1, 2 and 3 ?) I would not give credit for it each year. I would use it as one full credit of science--probably calling it Field Biology or Environmental Studies. I would list the remaining years experience as an extracurricular activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I would not give credit for it each year. I would use it as one full credit of science--probably calling it Field Biology or Environmental Studies. I would list the remaining years experience as an extracurricular activity. :iagree: From conferences, the "rule of thumb" is 60 hours = 0.5 credit. 120 hours = 1 credit. List it as an extracurricular or supplement to Biology. Sounds like a fun course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Without written work, notebooking, writing about topics, etc. I don't think it could be a full high school credit. I would list it as a half credit of environmental science and then include a course description with the transcript. It sounds like a really, neat pursuit! Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Oh, I will definitely give it at least one full credit--there's been TONS of nature journaling (like making one's own field guide) and their knowledge of the flora and fauna of our area is quite deep. I wonder if it is best to give it a traditional name or try to describe the unique program more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 They've also spent at least 360 hours over the last three years in this program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 My daughter was in this program for several years, and it was wonderful, but the academic quality of it varied a lot from student to student. I don't think that you can count it just by hours. I think that you have to assess the amount of learning for your specific student somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Very true, Carol. Was your child in the program in the last 7 years? Maybe we know each other in real life : ). Did you put it on your high school transcript? Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I'd love to hear more if anyone else has other thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I'd call it something like Ecology or Environmental Studies or something like that. "Naturalist" applies well, but I can't think of a way to take that noun for a person and turn it into a course name. I'd definitely give it a credit. (Boy, that sounds REALLY neat!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Very true, Carol. Was your child in the program in the last 7 years? Maybe we know each other in real life : ). Did you put it on your high school transcript? Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I'd love to hear more if anyone else has other thoughts! Last year and the year before. We are not homeschooling high school, though. I'll bet we do, although I have no idea who you are! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Perhaps Natural History? From the Wikipedia page: "Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals.[1] Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms. That is a very broad designation in a world filled with many narrowly focused disciplines." or Introduction to Field Biology? Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Thanks everyone. Just out of interest, I also asked the director of the program and here is what he had to say: Being an former ornithologist and other types of ologists, I would say after all these years that they certainly have a solid knowledge base in ornithology, ecology, mammology, and botany, among other field subjects, and you could say they studied these subjects as part of our in-depth field immersion program. I'll probably give a credit for field biology and subtitle it with some of those other subjects.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Carol, I am Hailey, Noah and Isaiah's mom--Lisa here from San Francisco.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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