Summer Explorers in the News
A young explorer wades in a local pond in the museum's Slime and Scales class
This is the time of year when our Summer Explorers program is in full swing. Every day our education team leads groups of kids out into the ponds, streams, fields and forests around Norman to experience nature close-up and personal.
For some of these young explorers, it is the first time they have ever really been out in nature on this level. Over the years, our educators have ceased to be surprised at how many students know more about the animals of the African serengetti than the animals native to their own back yards. The lure of electronic entertainment draws our kids deeper and deeper into the climate-controlled virtual world and further and further away from the real one. You don’t need to hear me argue in favor of getting our kids out and dirty, but if you want to learn more about it, read Richard Louv’s best-selling book “Last Child in the Woods.”
Anyway… it’s a fun time of year. Every morning a group of clean kids troops out of the museum. And a few hours later a group of very wet and muddy kids troops back in.
Last week Steve Sisney, a photographer for the Oklahoman, joined the “Slime and Scales” class on a trip to a local pond and captured some of the action. Follow this link to Steve’s video footage on Newsok.com and join education officer Jes Cole and her class of 7 and 8-year olds as they make an unusual discovery…