Field Studies Program

The Environmental Field Studies Program seeks to spark student interest in academics through an integrated curriculum designed around scientific research. For two to four weeks, middle school students come to Smokey House full time to conduct intensive field research on current environmental issues. Students use the Smokey House Center land reserve as a research plot to collect data that is either linked to state and national scientific studies or to the actual management of the reserve. Sample projects include conducting timber inventories, tagging migrating butterflies, tracking mammals, and testing water quality. For these students, the Field Studies Program replaces their regular classroom work and they earn academic credit from their regular schools for their work at Smokey House.

To combat the well-documented “summer learning gap” when disadvantaged students typically lose ground academically, the Field Studies Program runs two three-week sessions over the summertime that give economically disadvantaged students the opportunity to investigate the outdoors with an experienced adult while practicing science and other school subjects.

Over 900 students from eight area schools have participated intensively in the Field Studies Program since its inception in 1994.