Category: Education

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Bass, Birds, Buddies, and Boats

Joey, James & Jack Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer
Joey, James & Jack
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

Wilson's Phalarope Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Wilson’s Phalarope
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Banana Boy James, Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer Banana Boy James
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

I sit on the front swivel seat of a drift boat gliding across the smooth water of Newton Reservoir. The sun begins to send morning rays of brilliance over the Cache Mountains. My only child, a 14-month-old boy named James, excitedly wriggles in my lap. Behind me in the captain’s seat is my long-time buddy, Jack McLaren. Jack and I met in graduate school where he was working on a doctorate in watershed sciences and fish ecology. Jack and I have been friends ever since, and any day fishing with Jack is one I cherish.

Jack tells me the Largemouth Bass are on the other end of the reservoir, in the shallow, weedy water where they feast on any living creature they can find, primarily small Bluegill who nest in that area. Using two oars, Jack begins paddling the boat across the reservoir. James’ eyes are mesmerized by the turbulent water eddies that form around the oars with each stroke, and I peacefully observe the world and wings around me. Western Kingbirds, with their gentle yellow bellies and grey head, play chase games as they dive and duck from one cottonwood tree to another on the water’s edge; Bank Swallows make clicking and clacking noises like pulsing electrical wires from the steep muddy embankment where a healthy colony has formed; and Wilson’s Phalaropes do a mating display where the modestly colored male hovers in the air over the brightly colored female, bobbing up and down for nearly 5 seconds, before gently landing next to her.

We reach the far end of the reservoir and begin fishing. Jack pulls a plastic green frog across the top of the water; I bounce a long, brown rubber worm with a neon tail under the water; and James, well, he grabs each bag of rubber worms from the tackle box and throws them over the side of the boat.

Just as I finally distract James with a Banana, “THWAPPP!!” a splash sounds and a commotion in the water catches my attention. A hungry bass thought frogs were on the menu and was fooled by Jack’s lure. He reels in the bass and James and I look at the beautiful, greenish/yellowish creature with the distinguishable black stripe down the side. James, with a mischievous smile, courageously reaches out his pointer finger and gently runs it along the slimy, scaly body of the fish.

We continue to fish and just take in the beautiful morning when the thought strikes me.

“This little 14-month-old is going to be my new, best buddy for the rest of my life. Observing, respecting, being aware of, and appreciating nature has always been important to me. How do I pass this same kind of love and respect for nature onto my own son, the next generation, as my father and mother did to me?”

To that, I don’t have an answer, but maybe, just maybe, James being mesmerized by the flow of swirling water eddies around oar paddles or him using his delicate finger to bravely stroke the side of a slimy fish may be just the right start.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am Wild About Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin
Text:     Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Experiential Education Archives, Wild About Utah https://wildaboututah.org/tag/experiential-education/

Hitchcock, Ed, 7 Tips for Fishing with Kids, Take Me Fishing, the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, Nov 22, 2019, https://www.takemefishing.org/blog/november-2019/7-tips-for-fishing-with-kids/

Community fisheries, Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, Last Updated: September 12, 2024, https://wildlife.utah.gov/community-fisheries.html

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Balancing Academic Focus and Student Exploration when Learning Outdoors

Balancing Academic Focus and Student Exploration when Learning Outdoors: Academic Focus in the Classroom Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Academic Focus in the Classroom
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Academic Focus in the Outdoors Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Academic Focus in the Outdoors
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
A recent educational outdoor experience (I’ll call field experience) with a homeschooled family, prompted me to reflect on the balance between academic focus and student-exploration when teaching outdoors. Yes, some balance of the two is necessary. In the extreme case of too explicit of academic focus, why be outdoors at all and not just at school in desks? Why all the logistics and planning to transport kids to some outdoor location then sit them at a picnic table to complete worksheets about some science-based academic standard, when you could do that all at school? In the other extreme, if you ‘let kids run free’ for the entirety of the field experience, they’ll have fun and make discoveries, but they will likely miss the intentional connections to curriculum that made the trip academically justifiable. So, when you take kids to learn outdoors, what is the right balance between academic focus and student-exploration and how can the instructor support such a balance?

In my experience, the way to think about this balance isn’t so much as a mixing of the two, but more of a time sequence. Here’s what I’ve found works well.

  1. Prior to the field experience, formal academic focus should be the priority. Students should engage in academic activities that set them up to make explicit academic connections when they go to the field.
  2. Then, when in the field, emphasis should be on student-exploration, and priority should be given to fostering children’s wonder, discovery, and inquiry about nature. Importantly, the instructor plays a vital role in in the field in helping refine student-exploration so it leads to academic connections. One major role of the instructor in the field is to arrange an outdoor experience that will likely lead to an encounter with the academic material that was previously focused on. For example, if you had academically focused on animals taking advantage of their habitats to survive, you may want to take children to a specific area that might have downed trees from a gnawing beaver so as to naturally lead kids to make their own nature to academic connections. Another major role of the instructor in the field needs to be expertly observing the kids engaging in the environment and noticing when there is an opportunity to highlight a child’s nature-to-academic connection, or prompt children to make such connections.
  3. Finally, after the field experience, attention should shift back to academic focus in the form of documentation, which will help children formally connect their experiences in the outdoors to the academic topic they are learning about.

So, whether you’re a homeschooled family, related to the public- or private-school sector, or even just a parent considering how to make the most of an outdoor opportunity, consider this balance between formal academic focus and student-centered exploration in the wild Utah outdoors.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski and I am Wild about Outdoor Education in Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from Anderson, Howe and Wakeman
Text:     Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Experiential Education Archives, Wild About Utah https://wildaboututah.org/tag/experiential-education/

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Stop. Look. Listen to the voices of our young people

Which Side of Air Quality do You want to Live on? Courtesy: 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest Copyright Maria Yellowman, Artist, of Whitehorse High School (part of the Navajo Nation)
Which Side of Air Quality do You Want to Live on?
Courtesy: 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest
Copyright Maria Yellowman, Artist, of Whitehorse High School (part of the Navajo Nation)

Smoke Thru Drive-Thru When You Eat Out Courtesy: 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest Copyright Sander Ounesonepraseuth, Artist, Granger High School
Smoke Thru Drive-Thru When You Eat Out
Courtesy: 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest
Copyright Sander Ounesonepraseuth, Artist, Granger High School

“Please, Please, Please” parody of Sabrina Carpenter, Courtesy 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest, Copyright Lila Mortensen, Artist, Ridgeline High School Please, Please, Please Don’t Idle by Me, “Please, Please, Please” parody of Sabrina Carpenter
Courtesy 2025 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest
Copyright Lila Mortensen, Artist, Ridgeline High School

Each fall, for the last 10 years, a challenge has gone out to Utah and Southern Idaho’s high school students to create a poster that sends a strong message to the rest of us that the air we breathe is dangerously dirty and we need to do something about it. Judges were called in, and by February the more than 1,000 entries were whittled down to 61 finalists. These posters were then taped to the glass walls in the foyer of USU’s art museum for all of us to come see.

The first poster that stopped me in my tracks was a drawing of our round planet teetering on a steep incline. The planet was split into 2 halves – one with blue water, green lands, a leafy tree, a bicycle. On the other half, all black and white, a car, a cigarette, a dead tree. A rope tied to the planet was wound around the chest of a young boy, who was straining to hold the globe at this dangerous tipping point. I felt the tension in the rope and the uncertainty of the outcome. There was no one in the poster coming to help the boy.

I moved on to the poster of a kid sitting at a bus stop, waiting, while a car passing in front of him was spewing clouds of exhaust. I felt a sharp pang – this kid seemed so vulnerable. We now know that over 50% of the dangerous particles trapped in our winter cold air inversions is caused by emissions from gasoline powered cars. And although it is unreasonable to ask people to stop driving, we can ask people to turn off their engines whenever possible.

“Stop Idling” was in fact the main message presented by these posters – in many incredibly creative ways.

In one poster a troubled young child stared out at us from a car creeping along in a fast-food line-up. Up ahead we saw another car, license plate IDLE, spitting three messages out the tailpipe: “permanently altered,” “whole world,” “seems to change.” Overhead the sign read “Smoke-Thru- Drive-Thru. And at the pick up window, next to the picture of fries, was the shocking message: “These fries are to die for.”

Another poster showed a kid playing a video game in his home. Outside the window you could just make in the hazy atmosphere a car warming up in the driveway, tailpipe puffing away. The message running along the bottom of the poster read, “Turn the Key B4 It’s Game Over.”

Another poster showed a close up of the mirror on the side of car. A kid in a gas mask was emerging from a thick cloud of black smoke, along with the reminder: “Objects in the rear-view mirror are closer than you think.”

Certainly the football player in another poster looked a lot less glamorous in a gas mask.

And finally, a picture of a girl with long blonde hair showed her turning to say something to us, but her face was hidden behind a thick plume of smoke. Her words, however, came through loud and clear:” PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Don’t Idle by me.”

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy Mary Heers,
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Shalayne Smith-Needham,
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Wild About Utah Postings

USU Extension Celebrates 10 Years of Clean Air Contest With Exhibits, Community Art Day, Utah State TODAY, Utah State University, January 29, 2025, https://www.usu.edu/today/story/usu-extension-celebrates-10-years-of-clean-air-contest-with-exhibits-community-art-day

Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest, USU Extension Sustainability, Utah State University, https://cleanaircontest.usu.edu/

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Nature Journaling: A Steller Idea!

Steller's Jay on Branch Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Steller’s Jay on Branch
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Across my years of exploring the majestic outdoors with young children, I’ve experimented with nature journaling. I always have grandiose ideas. Ideas of what I want their entry illustrations to look like, ideas of what I hope their written words will sound like, and ideas about what memories I hope their journal will encapsulate.

The Steller's Jay we Discovered in the Cemetary Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
The Steller’s Jay We Discovered in the Cemetery
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Steller's Jay in Cemetery Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer Steller’s Jay in Cemetery
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

As usual, kids surprise me.

What I think kids should focus on is rarely the object of their attention, and the way their journal ends up, both intellectually and physically, never resembles my lavish intentions.

If you’ve ever tried nature journaling with young children outdoors, you’ve probably realized that instead of the eloquent John James Audubon’s entries with magnificent illustrations of birds and poetic texts, what really manifests – if the child hasn’t lost their writing utensil altogether – is a half torn page, muddy and damp from being haplessly set in the dewy grass, with only the resemblance of barely decipherable images or text.

However, if you can accept the physical condition of the journal, with all its imperfections, you may come to find the true beauty and originality in the children’s thoughts, which usually ascend to places beyond our adult imagination.

The following nature journal entries are from 2nd-grade students (7-and-8-year-olds) and centered on a Steller’s Jay they discovered while birding at the Logan City Cemetery.

Across my years of exploring the majestic outdoors with young children, I’ve experimented with nature journaling. I always have grandiose ideas. Ideas of what I want their entry illustrations to look like, ideas of what I hope their written words will sound like, and ideas about what memories I hope their journal will encapsulate.

As usual, kids surprise me.

What I think kids should focus on is rarely the object of their attention, and the way their journal ends up, both intellectually and physically, never resembles my lavish intentions.

If you’ve ever tried nature journaling with young children outdoors, you’ve probably realized that instead of the eloquent John James Audubon’s entries with magnificent illustrations of birds and poetic texts, what really manifests – if the child hasn’t lost their writing utensil altogether – is a half torn page, muddy and damp from being haplessly set in the dewy grass, with only the resemblance of barely decipherable images or text.

However, if you can accept the physical condition of the journal, with all its imperfections, you may come to find the true beauty and originality in the children’s thoughts, which usually ascend to places beyond our adult imagination.

The following nature journal entries are from 2nd-grade students (7-and-8-year-olds) and centered on a Steller’s Jay they discovered while birding at the Logan City Cemetery.

  • Steller’s Jay Steller’s Jay you are so naughty
    and above your eye you have a spotty
    You steal food; we give food, you with a bad mood
    But rarely I see you because you hide from my view.
     
  • Steller’s Jay Steller’s Jay black and blue
    crest like a mohawk
    in the sun, in the light, in a tree
    flying out on a Thursday afternoon your colors shine
    Steller’s Jay Steller’s Jay what a pretty sight.
     
  • You’re flying, I’m finding
    It’s day but you’re night
    You’re so pretty like flowers
    You’re hiding but I’m still finding
    You can hide but I’ll still find
    It’s getting late so I have to leave.
     
  • Oh in the graveyard you blend in to the night
    Your colors scare any visitors away from the house of the dead.

I am Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am wild about outdoor education in Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from Anderson, Howe and Wakeman
Text:     Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Steller’s Jay, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Stellers_Jay/overview

Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri, Utah Bird Profile, Utah Birds, http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/ProfilesS-Z/StellersJay.htm
Other Photos: http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsS-Z/StellersJay.htm

Rhodes, Shannon, Wild About Nature Journaling, Wild About Utah, June 22, 2020, https://wildaboututah.org/wild-about-nature-journaling/

Kozlowski, Joseph, Simple Suggestions for Kids in the Field, Wild About Utah, February 12, 2024, https://wildaboututah.org/simple-suggestions-for-kids-in-the-field/