Desert Oasis outdoor experiment successful

OTHELLO — As an alternative school, Desert Oasis High School and its staff are constantly looking for new ways to connect with students who struggle in a mainstream setting.

Four staff members and the students had an Outdoor School day — not a field trip — on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Columbia Basin National Wildlife Refuge near here.

“The main purpose was to get the kids to ask questions, and they certainly did that,” project leader Jeffrey Dermond said.

Outdoor School was unlike anything that’s been done before in the district. The students went into it with no idea of what to expect.

“All the questions they had will serve as a springboard in the classroom, and that’s the difference between this experience and your typical school field trip,” Dermond said. “Usually, field trips aim to reinforce what has already been dispensed in the classroom. We wanted our field trip to create questions that we can answer in the classroom.”

Of all Dermond observed, he was most struck with the realization that, almost without exception, the students who seemed to flourish the most were also the students who have the most difficulty with a traditional classroom setting.

“If you looked at their discipline records, you’d probably think to identify them as ‘problem students,’” Dermond said. “But if you observed them in this setting, you’d have correctly identified them as leaders.”

Other teachers involved in this project were Michael Defouw, Shaun Finn, Adam Shockey and Ed Swan. All had positive reviews of Outdoor School.

Finn said students who were normally more disruptive had a chance to channel their energies into something they thought was more productive. Quiet students were given more chances to voice their questions.

Group work was more fundamental to the learning, he said. Students in groups served a variety of tasks, ranging from record keeper to leader to the followers.

Students followed deer tracks throughout the terrain until the herd was found. Other students observed geologic formations and correlated those to mapping and GPS measurements.

“Some students were enthralled by the environment and wrote poetry and identified symmetry,” Finn said.

According to Finn, students described the trip as a beneficial, learning experience. Students did say some of the topics were hard and the hiking was difficult, but they did have fun.

“My group really enjoyed the collaboration of all the activities,” drug and alcohol counselor Dani Callahan said. “They really enjoyed the hands-on learning that was available and had great ideas that were backed by information they had previously learned in classes.”

Outdoor School provided natural topics that could be discussed in the classroom, Finn said. For example, in math we were already able to discuss how symmetry is observed in other functions. The students know grasp the concept of symmetry slightly better.

For the history classroom, students were briefed on the Clovis people as evidenced by Clovis point spears found around North America and the Pacific Northwest region. Students were asked to do thought experiments at the Potholes near the basalt ridges about how native peoples viewed their place within the natural environment as being part of a continuity, and not as something to be tamed or mastered.

For English, students were prepared in the days preceding the outdoor learning experience with practice in descriptive imagery, figurative language, and haiku poetry, DeFouw noted that in the morning group sessions, students were tasked with writing Haiku based on natural objects they observed in the wild (basalt columns, lichen, rocks, etc.).

DeFouw posed the question: “Why is it important to preserve our natural environment?” Students were tasked with answering this question through the theme or moral message found in their poetry. The haiku activity forced students to observe and appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds their own community.

The next step for Outdoor School, Finn said, is to plan out future trips. Staff have discussed the potential for visiting other sites and doing similar trips. Also, there is the potential for connecting this site with the students.

“Jeff, the science teacher, and I have discussed how, when field observations are made at multiple times of the year, the students become excited to see what has changed,” Finn said. “They have a connection of intellectual ownership on the site. They become the experts on what the site looks like and what it has to show.”

Finn said the teachers would like to do Outdoor School multiple times. They would like to do it in multiple seasons so that the students can make a season connection with how life changes.

Modulation of temperature, precipitation, and sunlight are examples of how plants get changed. But are there other ways such as human interactions? This is a question teachers want the students to answer.

“If we could do it every Friday, that would be amazing, Finn said. “However that is more a goal for the future.”

Callahan appreciated the fact there were no “wrong answers” because it really kept every student engaged and participating. She said they liked being able to sit, stand and walk during activities rather than being stuck at a desk all day.

Dermond noted students enjoyed listening to trained professionals and highly acclaimed professors at the refuge.

Outdoor School is just one of many approaches at DOHS. Finn said staff attempts to make learning interactive and fun as much as the content, curriculum, and state standards allow.

“We take them to the parks to make observations, as Defouw (the English teacher) has done,” he said. “Or we release them to be able to make an accurate blueprint/mapping of the school.”

As with the best ideas, Outdoor School sprang up from multiple and collaborative locations, Dermond said. Defouw, the new English teacher, in his job interview said he wanted to take the students on poetry sessions outside, such as parks or nature reserves. Dermond was able develop that idea into Outdoor School.

Finn did a lot of heavy lifting when it came to planning, organizing, and facilitating. Other teachers added their own unique qualities to the project that made it an original and beneficial learning experience for students and teachers.

“We all had our contributions,” Dermond said. “However, Jeff was able to take this idea of an outdoor classroom to the next level. He was able to take what was a good idea and turn it into a game changing educational experience.”

In the future, Finn said, things will be easier and more learning will always occur. As with anything, there is always a first draft.

“But the goal should not be to make things easier but rather provide the students with the greatest learning opportunity.”