There often times seems to be little new in the way of educational thinking but one Arkansas town, Searcy, has gone to great lengths to put something new into action, even if I question the timing. Late November seems like the wrong time of year to be starting an outdoor education program even for states and southerly as Arkansas.
Outdoor classroom offered to students
By Betsy Bailey
Saturday, November 29, 2008 9:34 PM CSTWestside Elementary School has added a classroom to its campus, but it won’t be found within the walls of the school. The school, with the assistance of the Parent/Teacher Organization, developed an outdoor classroom on the grounds of the school building.
The “Wildlife EDventure Garden” as it was dubbed by the third grader, Victoria Brown of Mrs Wilson’s class, in the naming contest, will provide an excellent educational opportunity for students of Westside Elementary.
Not only do I like the notion of the garden using all native Arkansas plants, but I really like the notion creative ideas not being dead in academia. Too often we stick with tradition simply for the sake of tradition. That old guard system was bucked by a new idea in Arkansas and as benign as this new idea sounds, any new idea is a full scale rebellion against the academic institution.
