Entry #2, Outdoors, Then and Now

       Being outside while growing up was normal for me.  My sister and I would always play in the backyard, running around in bare feet when the weather was hot, and donning snowsuits and boots when the ground was blanketed in white snow.  Even though we lived in a suburb in New Jersey that was less than an hour away from New York, we had a small patch of woods behind our house that we could walk around in.  It was a peaceful spot that you could go to and just escape from reality for a little while; of course I was still a kid then and had fun pretty much all of the time, so there wasn't much of a need to escape.  My family lives in Florida now, and even though the backyard is considerably smaller, I appreciate it for what it has, not for what it lacks. I love the fruit trees we are able to grow here, like our banana tree and mango tree.  I love to see the anole lizards scatter about every time I step outside.  I love the fact that life seems to continue here rather than coming to a standstill in the cold winter months as it does up north. Even though they are different, I love the outside world in both places because being in nature allows me to breath and calm down.  It lets your worries temporarily leave you, and breaks up the monotony of textbooks, computers, and television.

       I am excited that by taking University Colloquium, I will get to learn about environmental sustainability, but also the fact that we will take field trips outside and experience perhaps first hand what we are learning in class. The messages from our readings in the University Colloquium Reader this week really seem to connect with what this class is about.  John Dewey wrote in his article, Traditional versus Progressive Education, a section of Experience and Education, that, "...the fundamental unity of the newer philosophy is found in the idea that there is an intimate and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education". When I hear about progressive education involving a basis upon experiences, I see it depicted in this class since we will not only learn about the environment, but be emerging ourselves into it. I will admit that while I enjoy watching most animals, certain ones like snakes,wasps, and spiders can never be far enough away from me.  So I suppose that would have to be the thing I would be most apprehensive about, getting a little too close to nature for my own comfort.

       I actually really enjoyed when we went out on the FGCU campus tour. Even though it was so hot outside, I was really surprised how much we learned and shocked that we walked just a little bit and were in areas on campus that I didn't even know existed.  I was surprised there was an area on campus where fruit trees have been planted, and the chilling plant was very interesting.  I liked learning how the large metal containers were filled with ice and were able to keep the campus cool with the air blowing over it.  I had always assumed the walkways were only in place to provide shelter if it rains or from the sun, but it makes sense that by shading the windows of the adjacent buildings, it reduces cooling costs. It was an exciting experience, much better than I thought it would be, and I learned more in just an hour of this class about FGCU then I had in the previous two years since I started attending the school.

Information on John Dewey article found in:

Dewey, John. "Traditional versus Progressive Education." 1938. University Colloquium: A Sustainable        Future. 2009. 1-5. Print.