About Our Programming
As the Kalamazoo Nature Center’s mission is to inspire people to care for the environment by providing experiences that lead them to understand their connection to the natural world, KNC’s education department plays an essential role in supporting that mission, utilizing our programs to help schools and families in our community to have positive experiences exploring, and connecting with, nature.
To support this mission, our educators have embraced six program core values. These values are best reflected in the acronym ACORNS that we adapted from the Kalamazoo Nature Center’s CAMP, and our educators plant these acorns into every program we offer.
- A: Active. Classes should always be actively exploring, discussing, and questioning as they investigate the natural world with our programs.
- C: Curious: We want to help our students unbottle their curiosity, and really nurture a scientific mindset.
- O: Outside. We’re all about being outside whenever possible, but if we can’t always bring students outside, we want to bring the outside in to the students.
- R: Respectful. That golden rule we all know so well. Students are asked to be respectful of each other, their teacher/chaperones, and the KNC educator, and, likewise, the educator is expected be respectful to the class. Programs are inclusive and adaptable to needs and/or learning styles.
- N: Nature Based. Nature is is at the forefront of all of our programming. Whether learning the water cycle, studying pioneer living, or practicing using our senses, we want students to understand, learn from, and to personally connect to nature during our programs. Therefore, just as we should be respectful of each other, students are expected to be respectful of nature as well.
- S: Safe. We want to foster a physically and emotionally safe space to learn. All programs should be safe for students, safe for teachers, safe for plants, and safe for our animal ambassadors.
KNC school programming primarily serves preschool/daycare aged children through elementary school, but we also offer programs and field lab experiences for up to 8th grade, as well as customizable programming options for every grade level.
Common topics in school programs include animal classification, plant parts/life cycle, animal life cycles, ecological relationships, habitats, adaptations, natural resources, human impact, and natural cycles and patterns. Our programming is focused primarily on environmental science and Michigan history, but we are also able to provide customizable opportunities for english and arts classrooms.