2021 Outdoor Laboratoryof the Year
By Ken Day
The STEM Connection at Moore Road Farm in Indianapolis, Indiana was selected for the 2021 Outdoor Laboratory of the Year. The award was announced at the Tree Farm Breakfast at the Indiana Hardwood Lumberman’s Association convention and presented at the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc. (HASTI) convention in Indianapolis in February 2022.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Connection was established eight years ago as a non-profit corporation to facilitate hands-on, minds-on, feet-of-the-ground STEM experiences at the Moore Road Farm and other education sites. The laboratory is a 30 acre outdoor learning site. The ecosystems at the farm includes deciduous forest, Eagle Creek, fields of crops, and garden for exploration and learning. Programming is structured on Indiana Academic Standards and connected with ongoing conservation projects to honor land and waterways of Indiana.
The outdoor laboratory has a staff of 13 that utilize the learning space and other teachers and staff to assist with field trips. In 2021, over 4,000 students participated in the various programs with over 2,300 students participating in-person at the farm. The first five months of the year were significantly impacted by COVID.
STEM Connection runs year-round programs including field trips, day camps, summer camps, STEM Future Leader events, and other special events. All in-person participants have time to explore and learn in the gardens, fields, forest, Exploration Station, and/or creek. STEM Future Leaders, who are middle school and high school students, participate in service projects to create enhancements to learning spaces and help maintain the spaces by cleaning spaces, mulching areas, planting gardens, and repairing equipment.
STEM Connection participates in a number of citizen science opportunities and partners with local resource conservation organizations. The Moore Road Farm is home to seven raised bed learning gardens, pollinator gardens, alfalfa fields, two honeybee hives, and a portion of Eagle Creek. Youth participants have opportunities to engage in activities connected to Hoosier Riverwatch and Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District. Other partners include Citizens Energy Group and Corteva Agriscience.
The staff does not follow a specific conservation education curriculum but incorporates lessons and activities from a variety of sources. However, they create their own lessons and activities that are specific to the Moore Road Farm. The staff has dedicated time to develop STEM Quick Wins Program which is a library of free, easy STEM activities that can be done with easily accessible materials. Currently the library contains over 115 activities which fall under the environmental and conservation education themes of Earth Science, Engineering for Good, Let’s Go Green, Soils, Water Science, and Wildlife Champions. STEM Quick Win activities include a one-page activity sheet, bilingual in English and Spanish, and a short video about the activity. They also use lessons and activities from Project WET, Project Wild, and Purdue Extension.
STEM Connection has programs appropriate for preschool through high school students. Most day camps and summer camps are open to youth in kindergarten through 5th grade. Field trip opportunities for preschool through high school students are offered and aligned to content appropriate for grade level.
Day camps, summer camps, and field trips have themes. Some past and upcoming themes are: Animals as Engineers, Biotic and Abiotic Things, Energy Flow in Ecosystems, Exploring Earth Processes, Exploring Energy, Healthy Soil and Water, Investigating Adaptations, Is it Alive?, Is the Creek Healthy?, Organism Interactions, Time to Fly, Scientists Use Their Senses, What’s in the Garden?, and Working with Weather. They offer numerous themes and topics that are seasonal in nature.
Education is one of the key objectives of Indiana Tree Farm, recognition is the other. The outdoor laboratory of the year is selected by the Indiana Tree Farm Committee which is composed of a cross section on 30 natural resource professionals throughout the state.
Ken Day is retired Forest Supervisor of the Hoosier National Forest.