Science In A Tree for Middle School Students by Guy Mott
 

Last September, 80 lucky middle school students had the opportunity to learn about science by climbing trees and performing experiments up in the branches. The Science In A Tree experiential education program, conducted by Adventure Tree of St. Louis, had students from Maplewood Richmond Heights Middle School harnessed up and climbing ropes into a red oak tree at EarthDance Farms organic farm in Ferguson, MO. From there they dropped pairs of carefully selected objects in a "race to the ground", thus learning about the force of gravity and air resistance. Or they brought up folded origami "seeds" that mimicked the flight characteristics of real seeds in nature, which they dropped from on-high to watch them float to the ground, observing their flight patterns and recording their times aloft. 

Each learning program included a tree climb experience combined with on-the-ground teaching activities that helped the kids learn about the science topic and then put their new knowledge to the test with real live experiments from high in the tree. The students also learned about tree climbing techniques and they engaged in cooperative activities aimed at keeping everybody safe while climbing and on the ground, and at effectively recording the scientific results from their experiments. With all these ingredients in place, everybody had great fun climbing and dropping objects and hanging out at the oldest organic farm in Missouri. 

All students had the chance to climb and the climbing ropes reached as high as 70 feet into the tree canopy. Some kids were content just going up a few feet while others went all the way to the top and couldn't wait to give it a second try. The scientific results were sometimes surprising as the students predicted a larger ball would reach the ground first but then watch as a smaller one won the race, or a spindly looking paper "seed" would float on the wind seeming like it would never come down. Some students said that this was the best science lesson they had ever had, and the teachers remarked that there were few activities that were as fun and engaging. 
 

MRH Middle School is an expeditionary school that regularly takes students on field trips all over St. Louis and to far-flung locations like The Great Smoky Mountains and to Dauphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico. For this field trip, Adventure Tree provided their Science In A Tree program to the entire 8th grade class, which traveled to educational partner and organic teaching farm EarthDance Farms.

Guy Mott, Founder, Director and Lead Instructor, Adventure Tree.