Programs

PBL3 STEAM Institute​

 

The PBL3 STEAM Institute in Detroit is a multi-day professional learning experience introducing teachers to project-, problem-, and place-based learning. The institute leverages Detroit’s histories, culture, museums, community organizations, and outdoor spaces as launching pads for PBL3 unit ideation.

The BIG Belle Isle Lesson

 

The BIG Belle Isle Lesson is an education program for students and teachers to develop meaningful connections with nature in their community. Students and teachers immerse themselves in learning for a full week with staff from Belle Isle’s nature center, aquarium, and the Detroit Bird Alliance, and build on this learning throughout the school year. Students learn about the natural world, local environmental issues, and general ecology as they conduct scientific field investigations, explore different habitats, and learn from community experts. The BIG Belle Isle Lesson builds school-community partnerships in which students learn to take responsible action to make the community a better place.

Dr. June Teisan was recently awarded WDIV and the Gilbert Family Foundation’s “Go 4 It” award! You can watch the news segment here.

The mission of BIG Belle Isle Lesson is to immerse children, teachers, and parents in the beauty and wonder of the natural world; to engage them in authentic scientific investigations by observing the local ecology, drawing, and writing; to nurture citizens who value and protect natural resources; and to build school-community partnerships that inspire responsible environmental stewardship.

Key components of the BIG Belle Isle Lesson are:

    • Ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers. Teachers participate in two days of training, and then receive continuous support to develop and implement their BIG Belle Isle lessons with students. Lessons are correlated with curriculum, and integrate science, social studies, reading, writing, math, and art in the BIG Belle Isle Lesson week.
    • BIG Belle Isle Lesson is teacher-led and student-centered. Teachers design their BIG Belle Isle week to match their students’ interests and curriculum. The responsibility for teaching students is shared by the teacher and the naturalists and curators at the nature center, aquarium, and other local organizations. Lessons are highly interactive, with a hands-on, real-world emphasis, maximizing the way that children learn.
    • Extended time for learning. During each day onsite, students and teachers observe, reflect, and journal in natural habitats around Belle Isle for a full hour each day. This extended time is key for immersion in the natural world, and for making sense of the science knowledge that they are gaining each day of their BIG Belle Isle Lesson week. Students choose topics to research and use this hour each day for independent study to observe, write, and draw.
    • Parent engagement in the teaching and learning process. Parents are welcome to learn along with students and assist in leading small groups of students. Teachers provide information to parents before the BIG Belle Isle Lesson week so that parents feel comfortable in their expanded role with students.
    • BIG Belle Isle Lesson is year-long learning. The Big Lesson week serves as a catalyst for a full year of connecting students to real world applications of science and nature. The on-site week is a study trip, rather than a traditional field trip, and connects students and teachers to real world applications of science. Partners from the Belle Isle Nature Center, the Belle Isle Aquarium, Detroit Bird Alliance, and others bring monthly lessons into classrooms following the BBIL week to extend and deepen learning.

Our children are the leaders of tomorrow, and the school-community partnership of the BIG Belle Isle Lesson fosters a healthful, joyous connection to natural spaces and prepares students be stewards of the wildlife and environment of their community.