Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

“In 9th grade science, two times a week we went out to clean up a park with a pond in it. We learned about fish and the environment.” Page 176.

The teacher had her/his class clean up a small park a couple times a week, which really stood out to me. It is such a good idea to have the class go out once a week and clean up, because it would show the students that littering is bad for the environment and it’s a bummer to clean up; therefore emphasizing that point of not littering. And the teacher also talked about the environment while they were out there, so it was a hands-on activity.

This is a really great activity, especially for a science class because you can do so much with it. You could talk about different trees, weather, the food chain, and maybe a little about things have evolved over time (that might be a can of worms you wouldn’t want to open, though). I would think that it would be hard, though, if the students had block scheduling, because at the most, they would have the class 3 times a week. I would think that the ‘class clean-up’ could only be once a week. But it is an awesome idea, all you have to do is get permission!