the
nature
of
learning
Is the classroom the only place in which to learn?
By Debbie Carini
N o t i f y o u a s k a We b b s t u d e n t .
From its setting on the front porch of the magnificent San Gabriel Mountains to the occasions, year-round, to engage with nature, Webb provides an incomparable opportunity for students
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to encounter, explore and develop interests and passions beyond the classroom.
and it has been, e ver thus. When Thompson Webb first set eyes on the scrubby hillside school in the early 1920s, the only growing things on campus were several small palm trees; there was sagebrush rising up to the windows of the buildings. In the early years, students rode horses through the foothills, and just as they do now, they hiked the local trails. A student looking north from the chapel today enjoys much the same view as one who stood on the same ground in 1922— Potato Mountain looms over the chapel, with stately Mt. Baldy, just beyond that.
Although he wasn’t aware of it at the time, Thompson Webb’s campus, and the off-thebeaten-path adventures he, and other early teachers including Ray Alf, often took with students were what is today called, experiential learning. Experiential learning, as defined by the National Association of Independent Schools, promotes learning through direct experience, often outside the classroom, at times not directly related to academic courses, frequently not graded, and
The Webb Schools • WEBB.ORG
sometimes not mediated through language or academic discourse and practice. According to educational experts, its roots may be traced to a saying commonly attributed to Confucius around 450: “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.”
At Webb, exposure to the natural world starts before the first class is convened. Students participate in freshman retreats— most recently, the boys to Mt. Baldy and the girls to San Onofre Beach.
With studies now showing that the average American child, age 8 to 18, spends nearly eight hours per day, year round, indoors looking at electronic screens. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010), this kind of “out-in-the world” learning is more important than ever. And Webb alumni are living proof that the effects of learning and exploring in the natural world can inspire a lifetime of fulfillment whether it be at work, through volunteerism or in everyday life.
By definition, a naturalist is: 1) an expert in or student of natural history or 2) a person who practices naturalism in art or literature.
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Robert Glenn Ketchum ’66 could be called the embodiment of a naturalist. A landscape and nature photographer whose work has a strong environmental advocacy message (in its 100th issue, Audubon magazine named him one of the 100 people who “shaped the environmental movement of the 20th Century,” and this year, the Explorers Club of New York— whose membership has included Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong—honored him with their Lowell Thomas Award as a “Visionary of Conservation”), Ketchum attributes many of his strong feelings towards nature to his Webb experience: “I liked the out-of-doors but had never considered the ‘science’ of it before my arrival at Webb. Raymond Alf’s biology classes kindled my interests and Peccary trips were always fun, for me more for the camping and exploring than just for the paleontology. All of the Peccary trips contributed to what was finally an epiphany in college which is when I made the final ‘career’ choice,” he explained. “Although I do not think it caused my choice, I would say that our senior ‘ditch’ choice reflected our class love of the Peccary trips and we chose to go to the Grand Canyon, walk down to the bottom, spend the night at the Phantom Ranch, and walk back up the next day. That was not only challenging but completely amazing as we had an epic event to contend with also. I loved the ‘wildness’ of it all and I am sure that is part of my devotion to wilderness and the experience of wilderness.”
Webb Magazine • Fall 2016
“ We have kids who have expertise in all different arenas—sports, acting, video and film, dance, gaming,” said Will Allan ’94 of the freshmen boys. “But that first hike and camping experience with your Webb peers is very valuable, no matter what you’re passionate about. When you’re camping and hiking, everyone’s in it together—you learn how to work together. There are no iPhones, no video games, no laptops, you’re forced to interact, and you have to figure out how to get from point A to point B with this group.” Allan enjoys the unique experience of having been a student at Webb himself in the early 1990s. He recalled a night hike in Mt. Baldy when teacher Tim Smith had the group lay down on the trail and look at the sky. “There was a huge smattering of stars,” he said. “It opened my eyes to what nature had to offer.” For the 2016 Unbounded Days, Allan and teacher Lisa Blomberg led students on a 4-day, 3-night adventure in canyoneering and rock climbing, exploring the topography of the Southwest at Red Rock in Nevada—through amazing rock formations and underground pools formed millions of years ago. Rock climbing is a sport that involves climbing vertical rock walls with the aid of harnesses, ropes and belays. Canyoneering is traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques including rock scrambling, climbing, abseiling (rappelling on rope), and sometimes even swimming.
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“Some of the canyon walls are very tight,” explained Blomberg, “so a couple of students had to overcome some fears.” The group camped every night, waded through canyons, and got into several snug spaces.
Even students who were outdoorsy before they started at Webb, have found new ways to discover the natural world at Webb.
“It’s almost like caving,” said Blomberg of the experience. Blomberg leads the schools’ after-school outdoor activities for two seasons each year, taking students to Hangar 18 Indoor Climbing Gym in Upland, and on weekends also out into the field—to Big Bear and Malibu. Last year she went to the Grand Canyon with the boys (she holds a Wilderness First Responder Certificate which was required for the trip); she might be the first woman to have hiked the whole way with the guys.
who grew up in Mt. Baldy and whose family camped and
“ I was always interested in nature,” said Brenden Shue ’17 hiked. “But my outdoor experiences at Webb have opened my eyes to nature—the beauty of nature itself, how humans are affecting it, and how we can adapt to nature.” Of his Unbounded adventure in Zion, Shue said: “I couldn’t describe how beautiful it was—it’s nothing like the pictures; it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Teachers Greg Gerkin and Andy Dahlstrom also led an Unbounded excursion, entitled “Walk Out the Back Door,” which took advantage of Webb’s location right up against a 10,000 ft. mountain, Mt. San Antonio, (often referred to as Mt. Baldy), the highest peak of the San Gabriel Mountains. “The technology stayed at home,” said Gerkin of the no-phone, no-laptop rule on the 4-day, 3-night camping trip. “When you get out there, it comes down to simple human connection. We don’t need all those things.”
So inspired has she been by her encounters, Helgelson has investigated other methods of academic exploration in nature. With the support of Science Department Chair John Lawrence, she worked with the group 5 Gyres, a community that fights ocean plastic pollution through education, science and activism, helping the group to count and track trash at different flow times in channelized and natural creeks and rivers in Belize. Gerkin said that every trip is an opportunity to discuss the environmental movement and instill in students the need to start taking value in things that are going away.
Shue hopes to pursue environmental studies in college. Alexis Hegelson ’16 has been enjoying rock climbing for two years. “You don’t expect that to be an after-school activity,” she said. Hegelson also grew up hiking and camping. But at Webb, she’s pushed herself further.
Gerkin went on to explain that students learn a lot of lessons in the outdoors, such as, “how do I lead a group up the mountain or how do I plan a meal for 10 people?”
“In Zion, you’re struggling outside your comfort zone,” she said. “When you’re climbing and working hard like that, it binds you together with your classmates in ways that just don’t happen in the classroom. You have to trust the person attached to your rope.”
“It can be a life-changing experience,” said Gerkin. “One student wasn’t very happy about it, but in the end he told me, ‘I can’t believe I did this, it was so worth it!’”
Helgelson ’16 also traveled to Belize with a Webb group during her sophomore year. “We were hiking in the jungle and snorkeling. [Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world].
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We explored a canyon that we had to swim through parts of— it was dark, so I was wearing a headlamp, and little fish were nibbling at my legs.”
Throughout the 90-plus years of Webb’s existence, students have explored the natural world from the Kaiparowits Plateau in southern Utah to the Mongolian section of the Gobi Desert, from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon. And they’ve gone on to contribute to the contemplation and preservation of the natural world. Of course, Webb students have almost always had an incomparable opportunity to experience nature in the form of the Alf Museum and its programs. Very early on in the schools’ existence, biology teacher Ray Alf began leading groups of students to nearby fossil sites in Barstow, and the program continued to grow. James Davis ’67 says Dr. Alf was an inspiration to him, even though he was more interested in snakes than dinosaur fossils.
“I really liked hiking and spent a lot of time walking on the trails that went along the powerlines,” said Davis describing his afternoon adventures, where he saw several rattlesnakes and captured one that was kept safe in an aquarium in a teacher’s house, and then in a zoo in Arizona. He also recalls looking out his window to see coyotes at night, and great horned owl.
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Davis recently retired as a naturalist for Portland, Oregon’s, Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces, where he conducted a variety of educational programs in Metro’s natural areas. He has written a book entitled The Northwest Nature Guide, and has contributed to Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas. He was previously education director for the Audubon Society of Portland. “The Peccary trips were great,” said Davis, “but Dr. Alf also spent a lot of time listening to the things I was interested in. I had a lot of chances to explore the natural world I was in.”
Dr. Don Lofgren picked up where Dr. Alf left off continuing the tradition of Peccary trips and outdoor education. “It’s essential to be out in nature,” explained Dr. Lofgren. “We don’t allow kids to use electronics outside of their tents— not even earplugs—what if there’s a rattlesnake?”
The Webb Schools • WEBB.ORG
Dr. Lofgren takes students to Barstow and uses the same cast iron pans to cook pancakes that Dr. Alf did in the 1950s. He said students enjoy doing their own cooking.
Joshua Tree, Presecan says the group was challenged to take concepts they learned in the classroom and apply them in the field.
“Part of the experience is just learning to be outside—to be prepared—it can rain or thunder, you need to know where you can go and where you can’t,” he said.
Often times, her job requires the same skills.
Dr. Lofgren also discourages the use of too much technology. “We teach students how to look at their surroundings to orient themselves,” he said. He doesn’t use GPS to hike, asserting that people should always carry and know how to read a map. “I joke around, ‘GPS is for people who don’t know how to read a map,’ but it’s kind of true,” he added.
“When I go to a site, I have to make field calculations, and I don’t always have the proper tools, so I use what I have and then go back to the office and develop computer models,” she said. Webb provided Presecan with a strong background in science and math, but she also stresses that the emphasis on writing and communications during her high school years is also important in her job which often requires her to explain technical issues in a practical manner.
Part of the experience is also learning where to set up camp, digging a trench around one’s tent, putting stuff away (so animals don’t get to it) and learning to use a restroom out in nature.
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Lucy Herrero ’10 is the Collections Assistant at the Alf Museum. She graduated from Stanford University in 2014 with a B.A. in archaeology.
“ Webb focused on the whole package,” said Presecan. “You learned to understand other perspectives and to
“On my freshman Peccary trip, I did not like it—it was so hot and it felt like we were hiking for miles,” she said. But a twoweek summer Peccary trip changed all that.
participate in collaborative learning—those are the
“The fieldwork was so exciting, and even if it was totally different than what I was used to, I was hooked,” explained Herrero. At Stanford, as part of her major, she went on digs around the world: Peru, Jordan, Turkey.
Dr. Andrew Farke, the Augustyn Family Curator and Director of Research and Collections at the Alf Museum says that no matter how great a virtual experience is, there’s nothing like being out in nature talking about rocks, ecosystems, and more.
“Archeological fieldwork shares many of the same basic principles as paleontology fieldwork,” she explained. “I felt very prepared doing international fieldwork after my experience collecting and excavating with the Alf.”
“It’s comfortable for students to look in a book, but it’s important for students to get out there and try things outside,” he said.
Mary Presecan ’92 is the water resources manager at Leonard Rice Engineers, Inc. in Denver, Colorado, where she assists clients in their long-range water supply planning; she also often serves as an expert witness in water rights cases. Presecan (whose mother Joan was a biology teacher at Webb at the time) said she participated in every Peccary trip offered during the school year. During her sophomore-year trip to
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skills that are going to help solve today’s problems.”
“I thought I would only find a few scraps,” said Nicole Huh ’19 of her first Peccary trip, “but a lot of people in our class found things that will go into the museum.” Dr. Mark Torres ’06, who is a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology, said he wanted to go to Webb specifically because of his interest in the natural world. “I was sold on going to Webb as soon as I heard that I would be able to hunt for fossils as part of a class,” he shared.
“That said, Webb took what was my vague enthusiasm for the natural sciences and focused it into what is now my main intellectual pursuit. Simply put, Webb is the reason that I now have a Ph.D. in Earth Science.” Torres still regularly finds himself in the wilderness collecting field data.
“Students may ‘learn’ about climate change for example, by reading the news, watching videos or listening to lectures,” said Dr. Webb. “However, doesn’t it mean much more to physically experience the local outcomes of global processes? Similarly, people collectively have made choices at many societal levels that have implications across the globe. Seeing is believing, indeed.” Dr. Webb also says that his graduation trip to the Grand Canyon has stuck with him for 30 years and that he still enjoys recalling the hike.
“ I published a scientific paper on one of the same sites that I went to as a high school student with Dr. Lofgren,” he said. “On a Peccary trip, I definitely felt a sense of purpose that elevated the experience above a simple camping trip. We weren’t just camping, we were trying
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to understand Earth’s past through the fossil record.”
“It was very much team-oriented, something that is very much required for field research. A good field team, like those that I put together for tropical forest expeditions, is highly organized even if it seems informal and is a setting where everyone is having a great time. This is something I learned at Webb and was very important for later success as a field biologist.”
Incorporating the natural world as an integral part
It is often noted that Ansel Adams walked the halls of Congress with his portfolio of King’s Canyon to persuade delegates that the area should be a national park. Ketchum has done the Congressional hall walk many times with his own books as well as the books of others. He has met with Presidents Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr., and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also known four Secretaries of the Interior. “I helped to found a group, iLCP, the International League of Conservation Photographers, many of whom are the foremost journalists on climate change in the world. I myself have worked in the Arctic since 1994 and have been to the pole twice, done research in Greenland and Newfoundland, and flown over a hundred hours of time photographing,” said Ketchum. “There is probably NOTHING more important than this education! If we cannot address the disruption in weather cycles that we are creating, successive generations of humans will struggle to survive the changes.”
Robert Glenn Ketchum ’66 (left). Founding Fellow, International League of Conservation Photographers.
of the Webb educational process insures that students Sensitivity to the environment is the hallmark of Drew Hubbell’s ’80 Hubbell and Hubbell Architects studio. The company is unique among architectural firms in its ability to integrate sustainability with artistry, innovation and tradition. He says the school retreat to Joshua Tree, where students spent time hiking and looking at the stars, sparked his major in architecture and that his overall Webb experience taught him to think critically and solve problems. “I haven’t been afraid to try to use new materials; I don’t just follow other people’s opinions,” he said. Hubbell has spent 20 years at the forefront of green building trends, utilizing materials and techniques such as straw bale construction, passive solar design, green roof natural building, adobe construction and rain water harvesting. Dr. Edward Webb ’86 is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore as well as the Director of the Bachelor of Environmental Studies Program at NUS. He says the experience/philosophy at Webb that he incorporates most into his work at NUS is the concept of a well-rounded education and the importance of getting outside and giving hands-on experience to students.
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develop a critical understanding and appreciation for the natural systems that support life on Earth. “Without going outside and looking at the natural world, many science lessons can come across as abstract and esoteric,” said Torres. “Consequently, the best way to teach science is to get students outside and thinking about how what is written in the text book can be applied to the natural world. Furthermore, there is nothing quite as humbling as looking out over vast expanses of open space and realizing how much more there is to the world then we get to see during our day to day life.” As part of its “Be Out There” Campaign, the National Wildlife Federation released a report entitled, Back to School: Back Outside! which concluded that the “hands-on and real-world aspects of most environmental and outdoor education improve students’ desire to learn and boost their performance on most measures of student success.” “During my lifetime, people have become more isolated from nature, from earth and how it works” said Davis. That’s why this kind of education is more important than ever.
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