In October, the Alternative High school students form Lowell Area Schools worked with a steward from the Land Conservancy of West Michigan and a Forester form Cadillac, MI to assess the red pine forest on property used by the school in a “Natural Area.”

History: A family of sportsmen owned sons of the owner planted the land and the pines in the early 1960s. The pines were planted in straight rows, approximately 8 paces apart.

Science: The students assessed the habitat. The assessment resulted in the awareness of a monoculture. Due to the consistent age and size of the trees, there was a high acidic content of the soil and limited access to species differentiation.

Math: Students calculated acres of forest using the method of pacing and calculated volume of wood used as a natural resource.

Social Studies: The students worked very closely with the Land Conservancy steward and the Forester to discuss possibly opposing and tense viewpoints. The students used the method of voting to determine how many, if any trees are to be cut down. The students needed d to justify their opinion and present their finding s to the school board.

a. Although I feel that the greatest impact is yet to come; at the school board meeting, I feel that these students will grow from the realization that their opinions and research are important to adults, and specifically professionals: the School board, the Land Conservancy steward and the Forester. Remember, these are “Alternative students”, not always receiving the greatest amount of respect.

b. The students' thought processes changed over time. Since the students took votes, periodically throughout the weeklong class, they were well versed in the finding of other class members. They were required to justify their opinions encouraging them to know enough about eh issue in order to be informed.

c. The students were actively involved in the outdoors, using real-life applications of calculus, geometry, and trigonometry, wildlife Identification. The student's interest levels were intact throughout the entire process despite the fact that that were outside for up to 3 hours at a time, often in cold or wet weather. This is novel for this group of students!

d. The students grew in their knowledge of history of the area, gaining a greater appreciation of their local area. This was evident in their ownership of the trees and animals found in this area.

e. The students learned to think on their own. Although the popular opinion at the beginning of the class was to leave the trees. The vote was dead even after talking with the forester and steward and then changed later in the week to a 12-6 vote in favor of partial removal of trees, to provide for greater habitat.

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This is a PowerPoint presentation that was presented to the School Board on May 13, 2002.