Earth Explore Earth Science - A Guidebook to the Planet

Imagine that you were an alien dropped from space straight into your home.  You don't know a wall from a door, a light switch from a thermostat, or an oven from a downspout.

Not so easy a place to navigate huh?  If you could find the thermostat at all, you might turn up the heat way too much and be miserable, or maybe leave the frig open and go hungry, or leave the water running and flood the place.

The point is, you need some knowledge to guide you, or before long, your home just isn't one anymore.

The same things goes for Planet Earth.  And that's why connecting kids and teachers with the earth sciences is like giving us humans the owners manual for this planet.   When we know how it works, we can turn the right switches and make (some of) the right decisions, actions that will insure its, and our future.

We already know what happens when we don't have all of the pages to the manual, and worse when we don't read the ones we do have.  Things tend to come off of the tracks, so to speak, and you get irritating developments like climate change, species extinction, and all the rest.

Now, you and I both know that it's human nature to not read the book.  We like to rush right in and turn the switches and see what happens.  But this isn't Christmas morning...there is a lot more at stake here.

At Earth Explore, we like to share with kids the pages to the planetary owners manual that we do have.  To take them out and show them how their home works.  But in an exciting, hands-on way.  So that they become inspired to pass their knowledge along, and also, just maybe, go foward and add some pages.  Insuring that we humans have a chance to enjoy this planet for a long time into the future.

 

Science and, well, everything

I was talking to a student the other day, and he told me that he loved his iPod, but hated science.  That struck me as odd, since he was, of course, holding science in his hand.  But, it turns out, too many young people don't get the connection between science, and cool.

Really, science is everywhere.  In that iPod, at work when our scoop of vanilla falls out of the cone, right there in the discussion about runaway oil wells and global warming.   In fact, science is so cool that it's hiding in plain sight, everyday, everywhere.

In a way, Earth Explore is about making that coolness more obvious to young people.  Showing them that science is a very fun, and relevant way to make sense of the world.  And that it provides opportunities that they don't want to miss.

I remember more than 10 years ago talking to the lead scientist at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.  She loved to explain to our students how the Kilauea volcano works.  But she also had another message, which she made with great passion.  And that is that science is really everything.  In a volcano you can find art, history, culture and lots more.

More recently I was standing among a group of students at 5:30AM, listening to howler monkeys, and spotting birds outside the Tortuga Lodge in Costa Rica.  And it struck me that everything we were doing, from watching toucans feed, to finding tiny poison dart frogs, was science.  But the students didn't think of it that way.  It was just plain coolness. 

We're hearing all the time about America's kids falling behind in science and math.  About our place as the world's innovators and creators being at risk.  I believe one solution is to get the cool back in science, and make it a thrilling experience that kids don't want to miss.

Costa Rica

Just back from Costa Rica, traveling with a bunch of Earth Explore students and teachers.  And I have to say that the energy and excitement is still with me.

Costa Rica is a showcase of life.  Everywhere.  It bursts forth and gives you a new perspective on...well...everything.

Earth Explore takes students and teachers to some pretty exotic places, ranging from Kilauea caldera in Hawaii to Denali in Alaska.  All great.  But to come face to face with life in its greatest variety, in its most interesting and exciting forms, there is no place I've been that can rival CR.

And better, our students get to do it with the experts; quite simply the finest naturalists around.  Our guides were two amazing individuals who together were experts on tropical ecology...the plants and animals, as well as the history and cultures of the country.  And they understood the needs of students.  So they could spot three toed sloths hidden in the tops of trees along jungle canals, and also explain the importance, and sketchy history of banana cultivation, and its social, environmental impact. 

Great information, stunning views, and some amazing places to stay as well.  Earth Explore's partners in Costa Rica lead the nation in sustainable eco tourism and responsible development.  When the students stay at the elegant Tortuga Lodge in the Tortuguero jungle, they stay in style.  Ceiling fans, fluffy beds, gourmet meals over the Tortuguero River, and all the comforts of home.  And some things they don't find at home.  Like a serenade by howler monkeys at 5AM each morning, and grounds that are a tropical wonderland of plants and colorful toucans.  Little do they know that a recently completed bio digester means that the lodge is now off septic tanks, and has further reduced its impact on the fragile rain forest environment. 

Take a break from what you're doing a check out our students in action in Costa Rica.  Here's the link. I think, even in just a few pictures, that you'll find it a relaxing, and inspiring journey.

Earth Explore Learning - A Path to Success

We've witnessed it so many times in the past 15 years.  Students participate in one of our learning adventures, and emerge as very different people.  More focused,  more mature (yes, we get lots of props from parents on that one), and more prepared to tackle new challenges that lie ahead.

I have two teenagers.  And, like other parents, I've learned that motivation is everything.  It's one of the keys to a successful future.  Although EE students learn plenty (and qualify for college credit in many cases), the personal changes we see are, I'm convinced, more important than what's learned.  How many of us wouldn't like to have had a bit more confidence, a greater ease in dealing with challenges and with people, at an earlier age?  

Our past participants have gone on to be doctors, engineers, scientists, artists and confident adults.  And we're happy that they still call the EE experience an important one in their lives.

After all, when you have a platform for success, anything is possible.

Know a Great Teacher?

You know the kind I mean. Loves kids, and loves teaching. The kind of teacher who encourages students to believe that they are special, and that they can do and accomplish anything.

The kind of person who, through their positive influence on kids, shapes the future.

That is the kind of teacher that we at Earth Explore work hard the entire year to find.  They're out there.  As parents we know them instinctively.  Our kids talk about them.  Love their classes.  Remember them fondly, as do we.  Through experience we know that this kind of teacher will help students to blossom on their away from home learning experiences. 

So if you know of someone like that, and most of us parents do, then do us both a favor and tell them about Earth Explore Adventures at http://www.earthexplore.com/. We provide rewarding opportunities for teachers to venture outside the classroom with their very own students, to share spectacular places and experiences with those kids, and learn and grow right alongside them. 

One of my favorite things all year is to witness this in action.  When I get the chance to join one of our groups, whether it be in Alaska, or Costa Rica, or Jackson, Wyoming...I see teachers and students interacting in ways not always seen in the classroom.  Relaxed, excited about what's to come, and loving every minute of it.  There is no pressure to learn, or to teach, or to have fun.  It just happens. 

Our teachers earn professional development credit on their trips.  Important for their careers, and for the requirements of many school districts.  But I'll bet they'd tell you that's not why they decided to do Earth Explore.  No, it was more likely the chance to travel and learn, and to see their students reinvented belore their eyes, and in turn, be reinvented in their students' eyes. 

Reinvented as someone who just loves learning.  Period.  And loves to mentor and encourage kids to learn as well.