Ecoteam’s Essential Environmental Education
Kai Meyer | April 25, 2024
This past spring, I and ten other Warren Wilson College (WWC) students fulfilled our PEG 2 or Peg 3 requirements through Ecoteam –– a program designed and developed by WWC students –– that supports students teaching environmental education in Asheville Public Schools. This past spring, Ecoteam was revived for the first time since 2020, and over the course of eight weeks, we helped over 200 third graders gain a deeper understanding, and hopefully a deeper appreciation, of the environment through a variety of hands-on lessons, ranging from river basins to predator/prey relationships to pollination and more.
“A huge part of Ecoteam is fostering a love for the environment in these kids so that they can continue to care for it as they grow older, because we need that. We need people who care about the environment,” Victoria Tartivita said, who is the WWC AmeriCorps Vista, in charge of revitalizing Ecoteam.
Without much pre-established awareness on campus, Tarvita struggled with recruitment. However, after a couple of brief recruitment meetings and an informal training session with Mallory McDuff, the environmental education professor, Ecoteam teachers were thrown into action in early February.
Wyll Hoerres, a WWC freshman on Adventure Programs Crew and Ecoteacher noted how accessible the program was for people interested in education. Given the shrinking state of WWC’s education department, Hoerres was impressed by Ecoteam’s accessibility, allowing education opportunities without the need to be enrolled in an education degree.
Participating in Ecoteam was a good opportunity to explore working in a traditional classroom setting, fostering very relevant, valuable skills; while simultaneously fulfilling a critical curriculum lack in early environmental education. “I definitely sympathize with the issue of there not being enough funding or enough availability in public schools. I also love working with kids, particularly that age group is awesome,” Hoerres said.
Each week of Ecoteam was different. We taught seven different lessons, based on pre-established curriculums with a co-teacher. There was certainly room for improvement — some weeks went better than others, but we were the guinea pigs this semester in order to get a baseline reading of what did and did not work.
One lesson that stood out in the semester was teaching about predator/prey relationships through the dissection of owl pellets. The students worked in small groups to dissect and identify how many animals thet owl had eaten based on the amount of skulls they found. “I think it touched on a lot of things that public school education doesn’t necessarily even talk about, like the concept of death,” Hoerres said.
The lesson definitely brought kids outside of their comfort zones. At first, some kids were afraid to even touch the sterilized pellet; however, once curiosity set in, those same kids picked through the matted feathers to find every last bone. It was encouraging to witness and support the kid’s transformation into mini scientists in the span of an hour.
I won’t lie though — the first couple of lessons were a little jarring. With at least 25 little pairs of eyes looking up at you, a 3rd-grade classroom can be intimidating at first. However, having the support of a co-teacher and the regular classroom teachers makes all the difference.
“It was really awesome to hear the feedback from the 3rd grade teachers themselves, because they were really excited throughout the whole process and grateful for the experiences their students got to have,” Tartavita said. Personally, getting the chance to talk with teachers was one of the most impactful aspects of the Ecoteam experience. Given that every teacher in the public school system is spread so thin, yet still managed to bring enthusiasm and patience to each lesson was inspiring.
If you are passionate about expanding environmental awareness among youth, Ecoteam is a good option to consider to fulfill WWC volunteer requirements. Teaching in public schools is not only rewarding, but a humbling way to build more empathy and understanding for the education system.