A Classroom Without Walls

Hood River Middle School teacher Michael Becker uses an innovative outdoor classroom to promote environmental stewardship.

By Estrella Peña

On April 26, 2019 at Hood River Middle School (HRMS), Juan and his friends, Sam, Steven, and Jack, worked on building a habitat for frogs as their classmates planted flowers, placed soil in pots, assembled a bench for the garden, and created an environment for hummingbirds. The sky blazed blue and the sun illuminated the smiles of eager faces that worked collaboratively and explored the natural world. These different kinds of interactions outside the classroom help students cultivate awareness about their environment. Teacher Michael Becker implemented the program “Transparent Educational Design” at HRMS to establish a process for students to engage with and value hands-on work that extends far beyond the constraints of the classroom.

“The kids have built new, functional pieces that stay behind. Everything that is outside was built by my students: the fish tanks, oven, barn, tunnel, climate battery, biological systems, and the bridge,” says Becker. “The idea is for them to leave something behind that makes their school better, to realize the difference they can make, instead of sitting in a classroom all day to then proceed to throw their work in the recycle bin.”

Becker says, “this program is very much a studentinvolved and driven program,” because students take increased ownership for the direction and progress of their learning. Becker hopes students learn to understand the value of making mistakes and that together they can figure it out, all while gaining practical experience. “My goal for my design class is for my students to be able [to] say ‘I can do this,’” Becker says. “I want them to make mistakes, to learn about ownership, and declare a change of plans if they see it fit.”

Becker’s students are involved in the decisionmaking process, thereby learning cooperation, conflict management, and communication skills. He strives for kids to learn about their potential, and to be creative and selfreliant. Becker initially guides students in the beginning of their projects, but then allows for creative space before the end result.

Seven years ago, the whole classroom setting was nothing but bare dirt. The building of the classroom established the groundwork for the overall design process, which also meant Becker reimagining his classroom instruction. When instituting hands-on learning activities, he believes that more time spent in nature leads to generating creative ideas, a concept the state of Oregon put into law over a decade ago.

In June 2009, Oregon legislature enacted the No Oregon Child Left Inside Act to create a program that provides children with a range of place-based outdoor learning opportunities. This system was built to ensure that Oregon students become independent thinkers, urban problem-solvers, and active citizens. Upon signing the bill, then Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski said the act would “provide our youth with classroom instruction about our vital natural resources and an opportunity to conduct field investigations in an outdoor learning setting. This experience is fundamental to our children and will help them develop a sense of stewardship towards Oregon's environment and help them make informed decisions about our natural resources in the future.”

In 2011, the Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan created a goal in which all Oregon students engage regularly with the natural world. Integrating frequent outdoor adventures into a student's academic and life experience is an important factor of this goal, which is why Becker chose to create the green design class and has gone above and beyond to participate in outdoor field trips, providing students with real-world experiences.

Becker also instituted outdoor school for his district, resulting in a three-day environmental education program for all sixth-graders. He trusts that an outdoor education program will “build community and culture, raise expectations and standards, increase connections between students, and develop positive associations around the school and the outdoors.”

He continues, “from the homeroom groups traveling together on the bus to the groups sharing cabins to the field study groups that rotate through activities, students live and work in teams that they wouldn't form on their own.”

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Funded by Natural England, The Natural Connections Demonstration Project, a four-year project to help school children, found that the majority of children thought they “learned better and achieved more when learning outside. 92 percent of pupils involved in the project said they enjoyed their lessons more when outdoors, with 90 percent feeling happier and healthier as a result.”

Natural England also found that “outdoor experiences help students increase their understanding of their natural and human communities, which leads to a sense of place. Outdoor education allows students to see how they are part of a larger community.”

In his book The Nature Principle, Richard Louv focuses on the role of the outdoors in children’s growth and progress. He claims, “The Nature Principle is about the power of living in nature—not with it, but in it… the twentyfirst century will be the century of human restoration in the natural world.” Louv adds that it is “essential for a man to reconnect with nature in order to improve their well being, health, spirit and survival.”

Smiles are sometimes hard to find in a school building, but at HRMS they seem contagious. Becker loves watching the outdoor setting restore the students’ depleted attention, bringing forth a new energy. They are not only physically present, but consciously. Becker hopes to stimulate the involvement in his students in which they “leave a part of [themselves] behind, a legacy for the future students to carry on.”