Wesley Chapel, Florida - At Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel, Science teacher Audrey Biggs says the great outdoors makes a great classroom.
On the day we visited her, it was warm and sunny and she was taking advantage of an outdoor classroom the school recently added to the campus.
Biggs has been teaching for 19 years, but this is her first year in middle school. She made the move to middle school because she wanted to spend her entire school day teaching science.
She says she loves it when there’s an opportunity to take her students outside.
One of her lessons shows students how their food makes it from plants or the ocean to the dinner table. Biggs says it’s important for students to know where food comes from.
She explained, “I wanted to show them the interdependence, how much we depend on our plants how much we depend on our eco-system for everything in our lives.”
It certainly has had impact on her students like 6th grade student Memo. He says when he goes to the grocery store he reminds his family to buy more plant based foods.
The outdoor classroom on Weightman’s campus isn’t the only time they spend outside. Biggs has also taken her student on some pretty cool field trips.
The trip to Danes Caves in Withlacoochie State Park is perhaps one of the most memorable for her students because it’s a chance to see their teacher in a new light.
Biggs says, “I am crawling on my belly with them through the cave climbing through the rocks in pitch black with a flashlight. I just want them to see that science is important and it's exciting.”
Back in the outdoor classroom, 6th grader Isabella tells us two weeks ago they got the chance to dissect owl pellets. I asked her to tell me what owl pellets are and she was happy to explain.
With a big smile on her face Isabella said, “An owl pellet is basically owl puke, and you have to dissect it and find all the bones in it.
Glad I asked.
Biggs says this is what science is about: exploring.
A great day in the classroom for Biggs is when she hears her students say, “Oh wow! I love the excitement and enjoy watching them do the hands on and everything starts to connect and they go that's why we learn this that's why we do that.”
Ginger Gadsden, Tampa Bay's 10 News