We all learned science in school, slideshows, books, and if we were extra lucky, movies and bubbling experiments filled us with wonder. However, the majority of this time learning science was head down memorizing and regurgitating the correct terminology for our tests. Only those truly obsessed with science and the environment really enjoyed this and found happiness in even the standardized way it’s taught.
Students observe birds at Malibu Lagoon State Beach
The few days when a David Attenborough movie was played on the projector brought the whole class into amazement, and reminded us why science is worth our attention. The golden locks of the lion's mane shake in slow motion as he rears his head to let out a roar that shakes you through the screen. The darkness of space suddenly filled with green and blue topped with white swirls of clouds as earth spins round and we learn how it orbits the sun. These vibrant visuals and the sweet sounds of animals and Mr. Attenborough's voice brought us out of the classroom to the savannah and into a rocket ship flying past the sun. Then when we landed back in our classroom seats we suddenly found our pencils moving and our minds activated.
Students practice using their binoculars
Maybe we don’t all feel this same way and the simple drawing on the chalkboard was enough to stimulate the imagination of young scientists. However, I believe that the true love of science comes from the amazement and wonder of the mystery of our world, outside, in nature, away from the human built desks and walls of the classroom. Of course I’m speaking as an ecologist, mankind’s greatest technologies are all created in the laboratory or in a flash of sparks and grinding metal. However, even this is a land of its own that is rarely traversed by the average science student.
Students grind acorns into flour at Topanga State Park
That is why the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, in conjunction with the Havasi Wilderness Foundation brought over 23,000 students out of the classroom away from books and pens into nature. We armed them with the most important tools needed for science, which are tools we are all born with. Eyes, ears, and our noses, accompany our sense of touch to truly study the world around us.
Students learn how pelicans use their bills to catch fish
We brought the students to Malibu Lagoon State Beach and Topanga State Park to become animal themselves. We look around and see, how many birds can you find with your eyes? One, maybe two. Then silence. Close your eyes, and listen. Chirp, sqwuuack, eee-ee, chuurup, cherrriee, shooku-shooku!! Open your eyes and all the students are smiling, “I heard 10 different birds!” “ I heard 11!!” Using our senses we get back to our original animal selves and start to become one with the nature we came from. Feel the rough bark on the oak tree, see the leaves curl up green with their spikes, you can see and feel the evolution and adaptations.
Students measure the height of an Oak Tree
It’s on these field trips that I’ve seen many a student decide on a path of science. They watch an egret frozen in time, until the feathers suddenly bristle up on the back of the neck and you better not blink or you’ll miss it. Suddenly the surface of the water is flying and the egrets beak emerges as a fish squirms under the pressure of his yellow bill.
Great Egret
Students with a love of the unknown jump to life and vow themselves to the hidden world as they peer into another dimension. Slowly they twist the focusing knob on the edge of the microscope and gasp as the eyes of the planaria seem to stare back through the 10X magnified lens. The students squirm along with the planaria as it searches it’s petri dish world.
Students create acorn flour using mortar and pestle
Other students fall in love with the culture that came before. “We can live off this land you say? I see no grocery store, no fast food, no nothing out here! Just trees, bees, and bunnies!” It feels like the old stewards of the land are watching over chuckling as the students grind acorns and learn that yucca flowers make for an energizing snack. The students' jaws drop as they begin to realize the natural land has everything one could ever need, and welcomes them home.
Students are amazed by the beautiful Malibu ocean
Sometimes I almost cry when students stand at the edge of the sea shaking. “I’ve never seen the beach before.” Their eyes filled with seawater and crashing waves, their lungs full of sweet salty air and their ears swimming in the sounds of gulls calling through the tumbling tide. I am honored to guide these students and explore nature. These education programs have changed many students' lives and we are so grateful for the long 14 years of partnership. We thank the RCD for all the great work we have been a part of.
Isaac Yelchin is foremost a herpetologist. He studies lizards, frogs, newts, and the like. Specifically, he spends all day and night thinking about what it is like to be an animal. What are the animals thinking about? What is their perspective? When he should be working, he sits and stares at his pet lizard asking himself these questions.
