Joshua York

The Inquiry Adventures (IA) program provides the training, tools and access for teachers to conduct their own hands-on inquiry-based exploration of natural areas, while nurturing the curiosity of nature within their students.

With inquiry woven throughout the new Ohio Academic Content Standards, going into effect in 2014, formal educators are thirsty for ideas on how to incorporate inquiry-based learning. Students will be expected to question their world, conduct experiments, and think critically about their findings. Because nature provides limitless possibilities for inquiry, MetroParks has an incredible opportunity to use this shift in education to connect kids with nature.

IA is designed to give formal educators the training and tools needed for facilitating open-inquiry in MetroParks or around their schoolyard. During the training, teachers learn the value of outdoor nature-based education, basic outdoor classroom safety, techniques for working with students outdoors, and actively engage in an inquiry adventure (Project Dragonfly’s QUEST), giving them a real-life experience, just as if they were their own students. Teachers that go through the training are given access to borrow Inquiry Kits: tubs of various tools for outdoor measurement, which can be borrowed for 2 weeks for use in a park or on school grounds.

The program advocates that schools develop their own land labs, and provides access to grants that could be used to purchase plants, bird feeders, etc. Inquiry Adventures was built to be a catalyst, with a goal of moving Dayton’s formal teachers to practice outdoor nature-based open-inquiry as a powerful teaching tool.