40 Years of Belwin Outdoor Science

By Belwin Conservancy with Josh Leonard, Education Director, Belwin Outdoor Science

St. Paul Schools Superintendant Valeria Silva with a class at the Casby Observatory

“We’re in nature for the first time!” say many students from St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) upon arriving at Belwin. This simple, yet profound statement falls right out of their mouths as they unload from the bus. This scene has played out over 400,000 times, but it’s always a moving reminder why Belwin is so important.

So many kids spend so little time outside that we frequently refer to them as suffering from "Nature Deficit Disorder." A recent study found that children now consume 11 hours of media every day (from "Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8 to 18-Year-Olds", Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). It’s therefore more important than ever to break that cycle and get them outside; and for a generation Belwin has been there to make that happen. How fortunate it is for so many people that Charlie Bell and his wife, Lucy Winton Bell, had the tremendous foresight to establish Belwin 40 years ago.

1971

Belwin Groundbreaking, 1971 The very first busload of students arrived on November 1, 1971 from Roosevelt Elementary on St. Paul’s west side. These first students capped a frenetic year of preparation. The education center had only recently been finished, the towers were new, and miles of trails were freshly cut through the woods and prairies of Belwin.

This was all made possible due to the Bell’s desire to use their property in Afton for a greater purpose. Together they decided to set aside several hundred acres of their family property to use as a place where urban students could acquire an appreciation and knowledge of Minnesota’s natural heritage.

In 1970, Charlie and Lucy Winton Bell began working with the St. Paul Public Schools to formally establish the Belwin Outdoor Education Laboratory with a cooperative agreement signed by both parties that year. In the agreement, the Bells – through the newly formed Belwin (Bell & Winton) Foundation – agreed to provide and maintain the land and facilities. For its part, the SPPS would be responsible for personnel, transportation and instructional materials. No money changed hands with this agreement – and in 40 years – never has.

Today

Today, more than 10,000 St. Paul Public School students visit the (recently renamed) Belwin Outdoor Science (BOS) every year including every third and fifth grader in the district. As the name suggests, Belwin Outdoor Science is integrated into the SPPS science curriculum and lessons are closely aligned to Minnesota state science standards. But before outdoor learning is possible, students first need to learn how to be comfortable in nature.

“When do they [animals] attack us?”and “What do you do if a fox bites you?” are common questions. Before students unload the bus we ask them, “Who is the biggest, scariest animal in the woods today?” Answers range wildly from bears and wolves to lions and tigers. The students are reminded that they are in fact the biggest, scariest animals at Belwin and that it is the wildlife of Belwin that must take refuge from them.

Once they are introduced to their new natural setting, BOS staff then employ hands-on learning in classes like radio tracking, orienteering, birding and aquatic studies to take full advantage of the unique features found at Belwin. Their visit also includes the use of one of the largest refracting telescopes in Minnesota located at Belwin in the Minnesota Astronomical Societies’ (MAS) Joseph J. Casby Observatory. On average SPPS elementary students receive about 10% of their total science contact time for the year during one Belwin visit. The incredible resources available to students at Belwin make this astounding fact possible.

Belwin isn’t just for elementary students any more. Josh Leonard, the Education Director at Belwin Outdoor Science, observed that secondary students get very few or no opportunities for field experiences. Josh has worked to design a new curriculum that inspires teenagers to learn science through nature at Belwin. Today nearly 1,000 secondary students visit Belwin to learn field ecology, water quality and other environmental topics.

Looking forward, Belwin Outdoor Science has recently received a competitive grant from the EPA to further integrate environmental education into the SPPS science curriculum. The EPA grant will transform Belwin into a training platform to enable teachers to take their classrooms outside in their schoolyards or a local park. “There’s an incredible surge of urban outdoor classroom activity in St. Paul,” says Leonard. “The EPA grant will enable BOS to give teachers the skills, tools, and resources to teach right out their back doors.”

40th Anniversary

Mayor Coleman looks through a microscope To mark 40 years of this remarkable program, on September 29th, Belwin Conservancy Board Chair David Hartwell, grandson of Charlie and Lucy Bell, welcomed St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman and superintendent Valeria Silva to Belwin. Along with School Board members, and other administrators from the St. Paul Public Schools, they came to visit a 5th grade class from Phalen Lake elementary during its visit to Belwin Outdoor Science.

What they saw was Belwin as it was conceived by Charlie and Lucy Bell 40 years ago. They saw students engaged with their natural surroundings and taking advantage of this unique place to gain an understanding – a working knowledge – of nature and their connection to it.