Service Learning
Past/Ongoing Projects
  Eco Expo
  Outdoor Living Skills
  Social Studies Methods
  Clayplain Restoration
  Env. Education
Community Partners
Serv. Learning Courses Serv. Learning Tools
Contact Info

Past & Ongoing Projects

Every semester, dozens of Green Mountain students participate in service-learning, either in a large class project or individual tasks. Here we've highlighted a few major service-learning projects students and professors have done in the past, many of which will continue in future semesters.

The Eco Expo
Spring 2006
Environmental Education

The Eco Expo is an event held on the Green Mountain College campus annually for hundreds of fifth and sixth graders from Poultney, Fairhaven, Castleton, and the surrounding area. Schoolteachers enroll their students in a series of activities in the afternoon, in which kids can watch or participate in presentations by Green Mountain students, professors, and other local environmental experts. The day concludes with a large presentation for the entire group of local students, and is coordinated by many groups on and off campus, including the biology seminar and biology club.

Outdoor Living Skills in Fairhaven
Spring 2006
Outdoor Education

Students in the Outdoor Living Skills class taught by Thayer Raines travel to Fairhaven, Vt. every year to teach a class of Fairhaven Elementary students about various outdoors skills. Presentations include camping gear use, tent set-up, knot-tying, and how to use a camping stovetop.

Social Studies Methods
Fall 2005
Education

Mark D'Amico's Social Studies Methods class designed enrichment activities for the Castleton fifth graders in the fall 2005 semester. Students spent an hour in the classroom once a week for ten weeks of the semester, putting teaching theories into practice. D'amico's Math Methods class did similar work with fifth graders in Poultney in the fall '06 semester.

The Nature Conservancy Clayplain Restoration
Spring 2006
Natural Sciences

For the past five years, the environmental science course has worked with the Nature Conservancy to learn about biodiversity and conservation biology while helping the organization with its clayplain restoration project, converting old agricultural lands back to the tree-covered Vermont woodlands they once were. Students in the class have participated in plotting and mapping tree plantings, assisting with tree planting, and studying the effects rodents and other pests have on different tree combinations. The students’ involvement in the project often leads to internships at the Nature Conservancy to carry on more intensive work with the restoration project.

Environmental Education in Poultney
Environmental Education

The section of the environmental education course taught by Professor Teresa Coker works with Poultney Elementary School students to practice teaching methods and help enrich the curriculum in the Poultney schools. The environmental education students typically spend a weekly block of time in the classroom, giving student-designed lessons based on the educational theories they discuss and read about back on campus. Click here to see photos of a recent field trip.