Bringing Awareness to Action
Aves Compartidas
What is Aves Compartidas?
The Environmental Leadership Program consists of 7 different teams composed of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in either Environmental Studies or Environmental Science at the University of Oregon. Each team is tasked with a two-term project that aims to bring environmental awareness, assistance, justice, and education to the local, and broader community. My team, the Aves Compartidas program, forges an international collaborative effort with our partners living in the Laja River basin in Guanajuato, Mexico. Due to the similar ecological issues faced by each of the regions, the Laja River Basin is an optimal location for this exchange of cultural awareness and knowledge. Both river basins, the Laja and Willamette, currently face similar environmental degradation issues, allowing for collaboration on conservation initiatives.The Aves Compartidas program utilizes the knowledge of shared migratory bird populations to create rich cross-cultural experiences for 3rd to 5th grade students living here in Eugene, Oregon, and in Guanajuato, Mexico. Aves Compartidas is founded on a philosophy of student-centered, action-oriented interdisciplinary learning. We believe that students learn best when they are engaged, and taking an active role in their learning. Aves Compartidas uses environmental education as a site to facilitate the growth of environmental stewards to promote this mindset for years to come.
Methods
Utilizing the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, BirdSleuth International, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, and Audubon de Mexico curriculum, the 3rd-grade curriculum aims to engage students in immersive, hands-on, and interdisciplinary activities. This activates student awareness of the world of birds, their local landscape, and the cross-cultural connections they hold with our program partners. The Aves Compartidas program challenges the archaic notion that environmental education is strictly taught from a science-based perspective. Our curriculum aims to engage our students with diverse materials that utilizes the arts, and that are accessible to all learning styles and backgrounds.
3rd Grade Curriculum Overview
The Aves Compartidas 3rd-grade curriculum focuses on pollinators and their role in the greater ecosystem, in addition to learning about migratory birds we share with our partners in Guanajuato, Mexico. The 3rd grade class is represented by the Rufous Hummingbird, a pollinator who was explored through a variety of interdisciplinary lessons, activities, and a gradually assembled student poster. Throughout our five in-class sessions, students investigated the topics of migration, bird anatomy, bird identification, habitat, pollination, as well as new vocabulary in both Spanish and English. The Aves Compartidas program further includes a 3rd-grade field trip to the Mount Pisgah Arboretum. Here students received lessons and activities that added depth to the knowledge we had provided prior throughout our previous sessions. Field trip activities included teaching the basic functions of binoculars, bird watching, the steps to proper bird identification, guided nature walks, a scavenger hunt, and a guided sit spot.
Reflection
Teaching my 3rd graders over the course of this term has been a wonderful experience, filled with valuable moments of growth for both me and my students. I found through this process that I have really good instinctual teaching skills! I have always worked very well with children, so connecting with my students on a friendly and social level was nearly immediate. The tricky part for us college students is being able to utilize this bond in order to engage them in learning, instead of the bond distracting them from it. By the end of this process I was very proud of the way I was able to balance the boundary between being a friend and a respected teacher.
Accomplishments
40 classes taught among 3 grades
3 field trips led
8 teachers served
188 students educated
30 contact hours
Mount Pisgah Arboretum
During our program we led each grade on a field trip to Mount Pisgah Arboretum. Here Students learned how to use binoculars, and used the 4 keys of bird identification to embark on a day of bird watching! Check out the photos below to get a glimpse at our adventures!
DO IT
Yourself
Time
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Program - Two 10 week terms
Classroom Sessions - 5
Field Trips - 3
Locations
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Program Partners - Guanajuato, Mexico
Local outreach - Eugene, Oregon
School - River Road/El Camino Del Río Elementary School
Field Trips - Mount Pisgah Arboretum
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Partners
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Willamette-Laja Twinning Project
Role
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3rd Grade Team Project Manager
Evidence
The 3rd grade team formatted our curriculum to have our students create a gradually assembled poster, detailing our class bird: The rufous hummingbird. Take a look at some of our students' posters!
