Our focus is a hands-on study of biology in the field,
although we go beyond the narrowness of that scope. With numerous guest
lecturers and a versatile staff, we have a separate instructor for
almost every area in which Thoreau was interested, and some he may not
have gotten to. We have an ornithologist, an ichthyologist, an
entymologist, a geologist, a black bear expert, an astronomer, an
orienteer, a board member from the state Natural Heritage Commission,
several State Park Rangers, a caver, a ground water expert, several
local biology teachers, an art teacher, a recreation leader, and a creative writing teacher/camp photographer.
For the better part of any given day campers are directly involved,
deep in the woods, or in a stream somewhere, observing nature by
learning key guides, identifying species,
conducting studies, and recording data in their field notebooks. When
they return for lunch the task falls to the recreation leader and the
art and creative writing teachers to make sure the campers can see the
forest for all the different species of trees. By the games they play and the art and writing activities they do, the staff tries to get them to reflect on and synthesize what they learned that morning.
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