As a transfer student entering New Century College (NCC) I began to hear about concepts such as ‘experiential learning’ and ‘NCC competencies’ including civic engagement, communication, and group collaboration. I never quite grasped the full depth and meaning behind this style of learning until I participated in the Celebration of Birds event through my NCLC 401 Conservation Biology course. My professor, Dr. Tom Wood, invited our class to assist in this public education event which gave elementary students and their families the opportunity to learn and commemorate the fall migration of Neotropical songbirds. As an integrative studies major with a concentration in elementary education, this event set on the beautiful landscape of a thousand acre conservation easement called Environmental Studies, was a true manifestation of experiential learning. For example, I 
interacted with students as they pieced together a bird puzzle to learn bird topography
or parts of a bird. In teaching or facilitating this activity I had to learn about more parts of the bird than the obvious head, beak, and feet; I was required to know the nape etc. because inevitably the children or parents would ask questions and want to know the function behind the different layers of feathers. These spontaneous questions and conversations are essential in the learning process and a teacher must be prepared.
Along with the bird topography station, I witnessed students go through a bird migration obstacle course where they assumed a bird identity and therefore became acquainted firsthand with the perils of migrating birds such as tall structures, habitat loss, and cat predation. I observed students use various tools, which represented the beak of a particular bird species, to maneuver items representing the type of food that bird might eat. This interaction and motion helped children understand that for instance, a Golden-Crowned Kinglet has a beak similar to a pair of tweezers or a Northern Shoveler has a beak similar to a sieve. Overall, this event created an experience in my life which facilitated enduring understandings about how children learn and how to create an environment for developing and mentoring self-directed learners. I don’t know if a traditional classroom lecture approach could have provided both a meaningful learning event as far as teacher preparation as well as an occasion to apply conservation ethics through civic engagement.
February 24, 2013
