Circle J field trip proves effectiveness of outdoor learning
Sabrina Ziegler | 3/28/08 | News

Students from Granite Hills were able to step into the shoes of a scientist on March 26, when they spent the school day at Circle J Ranch, up in the Sierra mountains, and received hands-on experience, conducting tree measurements and water chemistry tests.

Stacy Vehrs and Sara Silva rounded up 38 of their students for a field trip that included an outdoor excursion, in which they were able to explore and apply techniques for producing professional environmental data.

Students were able to test their skills through an international program known as the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness project.
  
The GLOBE project is an ongoing research comprised of scientists, from all major worldwide regions, who engage in cross-culture examinations and leadership studies.
  
Some of the students who went to Circle J did so as a requirement for the Advanced Placement Environmental Science class, taught by Vehrs. This was the class’s second Circle J trip this year, Vehrs said. She began taking AP Environmental Science students to Circle J in 2002, when the class was established.
  
Marie Aromin is an AP Environmental Science student.

“I enjoyed going. My group seemed really enthusiastic and seemed to have a good time,” she said.

The last time the class went to Circle J was in January, on Field Science Day Weekend.

Other participants went along, voluntarily. They included students from the Biology and Chemistry classes taught by Vehrs and Silva. Some of the students who had volunteered to go never liked science previously, but had taken an interest to the concepts they learned, by being able to test their own knowledge in a way they were not used to. Justic Rice, student of Vehrs, is an example of one of these students.
  
“It was fascinating, and it was a great experience to be up in the mountains. We got to experience what it was like to be a real scientist,” Rice said.  

He attended the field trip as an extra credit assignment. The experience was entirely new to him.

“This gives them a practical application for all the stuff they learn in the books,” Vehrs said.

The students, in groups, alternated between 3 stations. At one station, they tested the pH, turbidity, temperature and amount of nitrogen for the water in the Circle J pond. At another station, they compared their results with a study of the living requirements for macro-invertebrates that inhabit the pond. The third station featured a land cover analysis, which included tree measuring and classifying the land biome.

The data students developed was observed and compared with data intercepted from various locations worldwide, through the GLOBE project. 

“A lot of kids don’t realize they can do this for a job. It is very beneficial to have done something like this when filling out college applications,” Vehrs said.

Some students who come to Circle J for the first time gain a greater interest for science through their newly acquired understanding of how it can be applied in the real world, she said.

“Sometimes I get a lot of kids interested in environmental science. It tends to be a small class but hopefully it will change,” Vehrs said.

“It’s a lot of fun when you do an activity you haven’t done before. Otherwise, [instruction] can be quite redundant,” Aromin said.

The Circle J field trip served to enhance the understanding and appreciation for environmental science among those who had taken it as a class requirement, as well as those who simply wanted to try something new.