Yesterday, sitting at my desk across from the worm composting workshop, I listened as one of our farm to school specialists fielded questions posed by a gaggle of second graders. They had just finished up the vermicomposting workshop - their last workshop of the day - and they were headed for the bus and the trip back to their regular school. And it was apparent that they were fine with extending their stay. They had numerous questions - excellent questions, ‘I wonder’ questions - which the educator both encouraged and fielded until time ran out.
"How do you tell a boy worm from a girl worm?"
“Interestingly, unlike people, there are no such things as boy worms and girl worms.”
"If a worm has 5 hearts, do they have 5 lives too?”
“Well, no, but that is a good question.”
"How do they make baby worms if there are no boys and no girls?"
…you get the idea…
I didn't even know worms had 5 hearts!
Our students, those young minds inspired by their experiences at Great Kids Farm today, are the scientists, researchers, farmers, educators and doctors of tomorrow. Our staff, all of them (from farmer to educator to board member to volunteer), spend their days teaching children to learn through hands-on experiences they would never find in the traditional urban school. The kids are able to connect what they've learned in their own classrooms to the natural world. They question and remember experiences through tactile involvement.
If you want to change the world, expose a child to nature and watch where it takes him.
And as one child was leaving yesterday, I overheard her say, "It's the most wonderful place. Maybe we can come back again…"