Country Classroom

Outdoor education has been integral to our program since The Philadephia School was founded in 1972. By beginning their scientific careers by studying what is familiar––animals, plants, soil, weather––children develop the confidence to grapple with increasingly more abstract concepts.

K-8 classes spend a day each week in the fall and spring at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, a 340-acre open space area within Philadelphia's city limits. Preschoolers visit the Center once or twice a year. The property features a wide variety of habitats, including woodlands, meadows, several teaching ponds, and wetlands. There also are four miles of hiking trails. In addition to providing these natural areas to explore and study, the Schuylkill Center offers our teachers programatic support and professional development.

Our "country classroom" program provides the hands-on experience to which we relate our science program, extending classroom studies in environmental, life, physical, and earth and space sciences. While science is a natural fit with the outdoors, teachers also use the time for exploration, discovery, art, writing, math, and other disciplines. Outdoor lessons often build on concepts begun in the classroom, and observations and data are likewise brought back to school for further reflection. Beyond its academic connections, our country site offers students the chance to sit, hike, listen, and explore with a sense of freedom and solitude that is often hard to come by in the city.

National recognition of The Philadelphia School's environmental education curricula includes the President's Environmental Youth Award and the National Teachers of Science Association Award for Excellence in Science Education.

Here is a link to an abridged version of the September 2010 National Wildlife Federation report "Back to School: Back Outside," which describes the impact of outdoor and environmental education on student motivation and effectiveness at learning.