Cincinnati Nature Center
4949 Tealtown Road
Milford, OH 45150
Youth Education Programs 2022-2023
Grant Application:
We are seeking support of the Youth Education Programs serving children ages 3-11. Youth Education Programs are central to our mission to provide a connection to nature for people of ages and abilities. Our elementary-age program serves 5,000-6,000 PreK-6th grade students, 400 teachers, and 500 chaperones each year through a variety of immersive and hands-on programs. Each is designed to spark a passion for nature and increase student comfort spending time outdoors. Schools from throughout the Cincinnati region visit the Nature Center to participate in field trips and attend teacher trainings. We also provide smaller-scale off-site programs such as schoolyard native garden installations, work with Cincinnati Public School students, and occasional schoolyard programs.
Goal 1: To provide a continuum of nature education programs and age-appropriate engagement opportunities for students ages K-12 that foster a life-long passion for nature and the environment and/or inspire action and advocacy.
Action Steps:
• Provide a variety of flexible program opportunities that meet students “where they are” and that adjusts to be as inclusive as possible for all students.
• Actively promote program scholarships to students or schools with limited resources to ensure accessibility and diversity of participants.
Goal 2: To engage educators in continuous learning opportunities that support the integration of nature into their existing curriculum (math, science, social studies, and language arts) including service learning, volunteering, and extracurricular programs.
Total served:
Action Steps:
• Actively provide curriculum resources through in-person trainings, website, schoolyard consultations, newsletters, social media (facebook and YouTube), email, and phone calls.
• Provide education opportunities directly to students and/or to teachers interested in learning more about their local biodiversity and how to integrate nature into their curriculum.
Grant Evaluation Report:
We’re thrilled by how well our year went, but wish we could have gotten more schools in for visits. Bus driver shortages had a greater impact than we could have imagined, which is sadly not something we can change. We’re already set up to start next school year with a strong schedule of schools and almost all of our “regular” schools already on the books.
Our field trip staff members and volunteers were incredible this year, designing new activities to use with children on-trail, and working together to create more efficient systems of communication behind the scenes. Each team member has a goal related to how to improve their teaching skills as well as a goal related to improving our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. We plan to continue this work in the coming year at a deeper level while working with CNC’s Accessibility Committee.
Our school garden program is gaining momentum, with ten new schools expressing interest for pollinator garden installations in the next several years. We learned a lot over the past several years running this program about what works (and what doesn’t!) Teacher professional development has always been included for schools who install a garden, and while this is still key, this is an area we see opportunities for improvement. Currently, we provide these training sessions in May when plants come up (after a fall planting), but this has not been a good time of year for teachers. We’re working on plans that will fit better with teacher schedules, possibly running professional development in October within a few weeks of plants going into the ground. Longer term goals may be related to the creation of asynchronous classes online for a larger number of teachers to utilize, perhaps blended with an in-person session that will go across a larger number of districts. Searching for funding to help provide teachers with stipends to pay for their time with us is also on the list to improve this program further.
Website:
http://www.cincynature.org Amount: $25,000
Date: June 2022
