Work Integrated Learning in the Forest: The Journey of a Science Educator

This chapter outlines my journey as an educator as I immersed myself in the Harvard Forest’s Schoolyard Ecology Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program. This program supports teachers and students in collecting authentic ecological field data right in their own schoolyards. I have been involved with three projects through the Harvard Forest since 2016: the “Our Changing Forests” project, which tracks forest composition over time, “Woolly Bully: The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid” which examines the relationship between tree growth and infestation of an invasive species, and “Buds, Leaves, and Global Warming,” which tracks the growing season of trees on the school campus. I use a work-integrated learning (WIL) lens to gain a deeper understanding of my own experiences, practices, and perspectives within this specific context. A self-study design was used to determine how my self-perception as an educator shifted as a result of participation in this program, the insights I gained from this experience that helped to inform other, similar partnerships between scientists and my students, and also how the project helped to transform relationships I have with my students. Five main themes emerged through the analysis of qualitative data: membership in a sustained schoolyard science project increased my content knowledge, my confidence in designing transformational learning experiences for students increased through schoolyard science participation. standardized testing and other school calendar factors limit the amount of time spent on schoolyard science projects, working with authentic data sets gives students exposure to technical skills they do not have access to in regular high school curriculum, and experiential outdoor learning is joyful for both teachers and students.