SANTA ROSA, CA -- It's cool to care about Planet Earth. But how do you get kids to connect with something they hardly know?
One answer is to immerse them in it. In fact, getting young people to turn off their video screens and venture out into nature is the mission of the Santa Rosa-based Earth Explore Foundation www.earthexplore.com, whose environmental adventure programs challenge students and teachers to dive into diverse earth environments, and come away changed for the better.
"We believe learning has to touch the hand to reach the mind," says Earth Explore Director Karl Van Amburg. "Once kids connect with nature, understanding leads to commitment and then action."
In the past decade the organization has assembled an impressive list of destinations, ranging from the Big Island of Hawaii, to the Rockies, to Yosemite and Monterey. Partners like the University of Hawaii, Cal State Monterey Bay, and the Yellowstone Institute guide students in adventure learning, allowing teachers to go along as chaperones, and return to their classrooms with new energy, and new ideas for connecting kids to the planet.
Demand for environmental programs has led Earth Explore to create new experiences to Alaska, Belize and Italy for 2008...part of a continuing commitment to getting students out into the natural world.
Recent Earth Explore teacher Alina Henninger of Virginia says "this program encompasses all things that I could wish or hope for any child. The students really built their confidence, independence and knowledge base." Besides the benefits of travel and hands-on study, students come home with an enhanced understanding of their own impact on the planet.
As twelve year old Lizzie Sainscrainte told us, "I learned that many of the world's animals are endangered and need saving." Now, with hands-on experience under her belt, Lizzie plans to do something about it.
For further information, contact Karl Van Amburg at EE at 707-538-7400.
info@earthexplore.com
www.earthexplore.com
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