INTRO Aviva Levin: [00:00:06] Welcome to the second episode in a new series that I'm calling Meet the Resources where educational innovators can discuss a resource that they have created. To relate this to the Mission Impossible theme this series is the teaching equivalent of Geko Gloves, smart contacts or flute guns: technology that has been created to make your impossible lessons actually possible. I was introduced to James Fester when his colleague at Hill-Murray School in Minnesota emailed me about all the amazing things he's doing around park based learning. So a big thank you to Mallory Brown. And a reminder that if you know an innovative and inspiring teacher that would make a good guest, I'd love to hear from you at www.lessonimpossible.com. James and I spoke over Zencastr in late April.

Aviva Levin: [00:00:55] Thank you very much for agreeing to speak with me today. I really appreciate that.

James Fester: [00:01:02] I am incredibly grateful that you allowed me to come on your awesome show. So it's been it's been great to have... [Thank you] Yeah, I'm actually I've recommended it to all the folks at my school as well. Yeah. Because, I mean, it's just it's good stuff. And you got to make sure that all the good stuff gets spread around. So absolutely.

Aviva Levin: [00:01:18] Well thank you again. And do you mind just introducing yourself and what you do?

James Fester: [00:01:26] Absolutely. So my name is James Fester and currently I am working during the school year, at least as a technology integration specialist at a little independent school just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. That's where I currently live. So during the school year, I do a lot of one on one integration work with teachers and students helping them make the best use of the technology tools that we have available in our school. And then during the summer or occasionally during the off I work as a as a consultant to teacher coach for a bunch of organizations, probably the best known of which is a group called PBL Works which specializes in project based learning. And I've been very fortunate to work as a member of their national faculty for about the last five, six years, just getting to travel around and talk to teachers and collaborate with them on all sorts of amazing projects. So both of those things are kind of what I do. So that's kind of my my day job. And then on the on the side is what I want, what I'm really passionate about right now.

[00:02:31] And what I'm hoping we're going to get to talk about a little bit today is a place based learning, specifically utilizing spaces and natural parks and historic sites and things like that as mechanisms for really great student centered learning and inquiry. That's kind of my my current passion, something that I really have been doing a lot with and I'd really loved to share with other people.

Aviva Levin: [00:02:58] I love this idea. I mean, obviously, a place based learning is such an amazing concept and really enriching for, you know, educating the whole child. But then the park based learning: I you know, my husband and I, we have this goal of trying to make it to every national park. But I never really thought about it in terms of an access point for students. It seemed like, okay, that's where your mom and dad drag you on the lamest vacation ever or that's something as an adult that you begin to appreciate.

James Fester: [00:03:30] Yes, absolutely.

Aviva Levin: [00:03:32] It's it's awesome what you're doing for students. And maybe you can talk a little bit about that.

James Fester: [00:03:38] Absolutely. Yes. I love I love that you started off by saying that it's where your parents drag you on the lamest vacation ever, because it's very funny when I get to talk to teachers about the work that I do, when I get to share the stuff with them. They go one. People go one of two ways. They either have great memories connected to national or state parks or the outdoors, and they go on and on about like, oh, and I got to see, you know, the first time they saw the Grand Canyon. And how overwhelming it was or the other way is. Oh, my gosh, I can't stand camping or I can't stand that. I my parents drug me all around on these awful car trips and knowing that everybody kind of has a shared experience, sometimes good, sometimes bad, with national parks or with local state parks and things like that. Something that that sometimes people don't remember is that every single one of these sites, every single one of these places has been saved for a reason. It's been preserved and kept and carefully managed and kept safe for future generations. And so that kind of began or is a great place to begin any kind of learning experience for students revolve around these places where you just kind of introduce them to a place or talk about it and you tell them this place was set aside for a reason because it's special. Why do you think it's been set aside? And something as simple as that is a great way to really begin utilizing these spaces, either in person or remotely as points of inquiry for amazing student centered projects. And so that that's kind of more or less what the heart of park based learning is all about is is finding these opportunities and using these resources, which, you know, and a lot of cases, your tax dollars already paid for, you know, that they're there for the taking. So why not use them and integrate them thoughtfully into just really great student centered learning activities where kids can in some small way connect to this larger world so that maybe they'll care a little bit more about it when they get a chance to participate in making decision or, you know, voting or whatever else it is. Maybe they'll remember some of these places and think maybe that's something that I need to be a little bit more involved. At least that's kind of like the end goal for this, hopefully.

Aviva Levin: [00:06:04] And you mentioned projects based around knowledge and interaction with the parks. Could you describe what one of those projects might look like?

James Fester: [00:06:13] Absolutely. Actually, there's a really great one. I like I said, when some of the work that I do during the summer, I get the opportunity to to work with and to collaborate with teachers all over the US on different projects. And I got to work with this this remarkable school up in Ohio outside of Columbus. And the area up there is you know, it's got to it's got access to a lot of great things. You got access to great natural spaces. It's a very historical part of the country. And one thing that that the school that I was working with is right next to our site are what are basically known as earthworks. Giant ceremonial mounds that were created by the native peoples that lived in Ohio long before the Europeans came over as places of spiritual connection to bury their dead. You know, there's lots of different reasons why they built these things and becau- and so many of them have been lost just over the generations due to farming and construction, that there are very few examples left. And some of the best examples in the in the entire world actually are just outside of Ohio. And so we were able to work together to help introduce for students, actually through the lens of math, interestingly enough, to some of these things that their community has access to, that they took kind of for granted before, but that they basically were able to invest themselves in helping to protect and preserve.

James Fester: [00:07:44] So they did this entire mathematical project where they were exploring the geometry of how these sites were set up, because many of them were created along the lines of astrological principles so that the sun rises in this area and stars align with these different mounds. And they were able to meet and use mathematical standards around geometry to explore these places. And then when they were done with it, kind of shared their findings about how remarkable and amazing these places were. Monumental construction projects that were built by people who had little more than baskets and rudimentary tools and built these amazing structures, some of which were the largest structures in North America until just a few hundred years ago. And they were able to create this kind of awareness campaign about sites that were currently threatened or had the potential to be purchased and protected. The last I'd heard, they actually were able to connect with a historical foundation that was trying to protect one of these sites in particular. And the students were able to use some of the work they created to help them advertise and get the word out. So that right there is one of these. It's an example of a project. It's an authentic process. A real that has a real world result where instead of the product going up on a shelf or being forgotten until back to school night, you have students that are actually able to see that their work matters, see that they had an impact and did so at an age where in a lot of ways they're they're told the opposite. Oh, you're a teenager. You know, we're going to kind of keep you on hold until you're 18 and old enough to actually have an impact on the Earth. And this is the exact opposite of students being empowered, realizing that they can make a difference and that the way that they made a difference was actually through these standards, which up until that point, they may have rolled their eyes and said, why do we got to learn this? So lots of powerful connections, lots of really interesting things. That's just one example of one of the projects that that we kind of package and put together on our Web site for people to take a look at, maybe customize themselves if they want to.

Aviva Levin: [00:09:54] This brings up something that I've had to grabble with in my own love of national parks, which is that I know that in the formation of the national parks, indigenous peoples' voices were definitely not heard when it came to drawing boundaries and taking over land and displacing people. [Absolutely] Have you done collaborations with the indigenous peoples who have traditionally held the land at the parks sit on?

James Fester: [00:10:18] Yeah, that's a great question. One of the things that that kind of drew me in or that drew in me to a part of this project was exactly that. That we were at the time that the project began and it began as my Google innovator project. I was lucky enough to be included or selected to participate in the Google Certified Innovator program, which I highly recommend if anybody is thinking about doing it. Definitely give it a chance. Do the applications and everything, because it really it was a transformative experience for me at least. That's what I really saw some things in the news and things that really were kind of not just not just disturbing, but really in the shifting political climate where things that really were cause for concern. And one of which was how the powers that be had really kind of cast aside and pushed away the voices of the people who have for long historically been the caretakers of these lands, who understand the importance, who know them like the back of their hand, that a lot of those lands when when management decisions, when decisions about preservation were being brought up, they were completely ignored or shut out. A really great example of this is it is a place that's incredibly important to me and my family. And I think a lot of other people may have heard of or have got the chance to visit is in south eastern Utah. It's an area called Bears Ear. If you've if you've ever seen or ever been to the Southwest and you can think of the stereotypical postcard from there, you know, the mesas that look like oven mitts standing up starkly against a relatively flat desert, experiencing the monument valleys. Imagine that shot in your mind. Now, imagine a place just like that, but about 40 times bigger, full of of of ancient archeological sites and treasures that are that have been preserved thanks to the desert climate that are incredibly important, not just for their historic and scientific value, but for the spiritual value that the First Nations, people who live there, the spiritual connection they have and they go when they do ceremonies in these places. Well, when that place was preserved, a lot of their points of view were taking into the mapping of that. And then when without getting too crazy political, when the new administration came in, a lot of that was undone. Their concerns were kind of ignored. And so what you actually saw was a pushing aside once again of Native voices.

James Fester: [00:12:56] And so one of the projects that we quickly put together was a project that focused on educating students and getting them to look at the different points of view when it comes to public land resources, because there's lots of different ways that public lands are you. Some are preserved as national parks. Some are open to hunting and recreation. Some are are open to ranching and mineral exploration. There's lots of ways that lands are used. But we want to make sure and making sure that everybody's voices are heard when these decisions are being made is incredibly important. And so with that project, what we really we're seeing to do is try to lift up these voices that had been pushed aside to help students understand. You know, it's not just about hiking or about finding coal or gasoline. It's also about respecting the people who have been disrespected on and on and on. And so have I gotten a chance to collaborate directly with one of those groups? No, but a lot of the materials and a lot of their points of view were taken and put into the project to make sure that students could understand all perspectives when talking about special places like Bears Ears, which is still currently under threat. And, you know, the people leading the fight are those Native peoples who, even if we don't realize it ourselves, we owe so much to for protecting, preserving and really interpreting the importance of these places for all of us.

Aviva Levin: [00:14:23] And if I was a teacher and I'm not physically near a national park or in this time of distance learning, even if I'm right beside it, I can't go to it. How what are ways that I can still do park based learning?

James Fester: [00:14:40] That's a fantastic question. That's like such an important one right now, in a way. This is one of the best times you have. We're one of the best times for remote place based learning, because the idea is it's really interesting that you it kind of seems like it's contradictory when you hear about in your head. Wait you're gonna do, place based learning, you're going to do experiential educational things about places without actually being there? Like, how is that possible? Right now just with what's going on, just like so many other parts of our society, national parks have really they've had to close down. State parks, about to shut down for for health reasons, for public health concerns. So a lot of them have been putting out incredible virtual content.

James Fester: [00:15:29] Like let's just last week, for example, was National Parks Week. And a lot of people were like, well, what are we going to do for National Parks Week when all the national parks are essentially closed? Well, these parks in an effort to really make sure that they were still celebrating their one week out of the year began producing and putting out amazing content. We're talking 360 videos. We're talking audio tours, virtual excursions, things that before you could find but now they're at the forefront. Like, if you follow social media accounts or you go onto these park pages, there's all this new content that they produced that you can take and leverage into these amazing projects or these inquiry based experiences. And we have some material we have some great materials on our site that help teachers do that. One of the things that we have that we're now going back and having to re-edit is a virtual resource directory where when it's done and we're about a third of the way through every single park, recreation site, National Monument, we will take content, high quality virtual content, and put together a directory so that if a teacher wants to take their kids on a virtual tour of the Grand Canyon but can't afford airfare or bus tickets. If a teacher wants to help their students understand the significance of a place like a Gettysburg or a place like a like a Mesa Verde, but they know that they're not going to be able to get their class there physically, the next best thing would be for them to be able to explore the place virtually. And we are going to have resources where students or students can you leverage them in these inquiry inquiry based projects so that they can still experience that even if it's in, you know, in some small way.

James Fester: [00:17:09] You know no, no 360 image or video is ever going to be able to replace seeing the Grand Canyon up close because it's not just seeing it, but it's feeling it. But we can get students close that maybe someday later on they can go and visit these places in person. Or help make sure that they are becoming the next generation of conservationists that help protect them. So we do a lot of great resource on our Web site for that. Things that, again, we share and share freely. Not just because, as we talked about at the beginning of this, we want to make sure that all of the good stuff is shared with everybody. But at the same time, these are places they're a part of our shared cultural and natural heritage. They belong to not just all of the people living in the US, but the entire world. We want to make sure that folks realize: this is yours. This is also your responsibility. This amazing place. And we want to introduce you to it now because we want you to get excited so that maybe the next time your parents say, hey, we're going to go to a national park for a vacation you don't have to roll your eyes and go, oh, boy, maybe you can actually get excited because you know a little bit about what a wondrous place you're about to visit.

Aviva Levin: [00:18:17] And so you've been working on this project for a while. As you've gone through it what have you had the most success with what has been the biggest struggle when it comes to promoting and creating park based learning?

James Fester: [00:18:29] So one of the things that's been them that's we've had the most success with is just really kind of helping lift up and put out there resources that the teachers may not have otherwise been able to find, but but also helping them kind of change the idea of how to utilize these spaces. Like when you think about the traditional field trip, you see everything and you learn nothing like you. You go in, you've got a worksheet, maybe you run around a museum. Chances are that you're just so excited to be out of the classroom that you and you want to see everything that the place has to offer. Or you participate in a program that only gives you a very small slice of the entirety of the story. And it's nobody's fault. It's just that's kind of the nature of the field trip as we know it. If you're lucky enough to go on, because there are some schools that just do not have the resources, the time, the ability to get to some of these places that are just so far flung and way out there. So sharing with teachers methods, mechanisms for still being able to share all of these incredible spaces that we have all this all these resources that have been prepared for them by experts and scientists and historians that they can draw upon for for projects or just lessons if they don't want to do the full project. That's been probably the biggest success. When I get to share these things with people and they say, oh my gosh, I had no idea that this existed. Or like where, like, how did you find all of these things? It's like, you know, they're just in these little corners of Web sites that you just have to dedicate time to finding. And we all know that's the one thing that teachers don't have. Right. They don't have enough time. So if we can help you out by putting all of the stuff that you need in one place, that's great.

James Fester: [00:20:15] The second part of your question, what's the part that's been the most difficult? Has honestly, just been getting has been finding ways of getting the word out. Not just to people, but also to parks, to historic sites, to the nonprofits that manage these places. It's just very difficult sometimes to connect with them and make them aware of some of the things we do. I think it's one of those things where when we tell people everything on the site is free and it will always be free and we would love to work with you to create something for your park or your space or your monument they kind of look at you like they're trying  to figure out what your angle is like. You know, it's like, no, no, no, no. What's your game? What are you selling? What are you trying to like you know what you're trying to foist on me? And the truth of the matter is that we're not. We're we're dedicated volunteers. Some of us actually volunteers for the National Park Service itself, like me, who just really are passionate about these places and want to work with folks. We're not trying to sell. We're not trying to it. We can't sell you anything that you already own. Right. So it's sometimes it's hard to convince people that we're not trying to work an angle. And all the resources are completely free. You can download the full project. It's completely the full projects. They're completely for you. You have unlimited access to the the virtual resources that we've proctored and cataloged. The only thing that we ever charge for is if we actually go out and work with people. And that's just because gasoline still costs money. When you can travel. Not a problem right now.

Aviva Levin: [00:21:45] You mentioned about just not just national parks spent state or even local parks. So you work in conjunction with the nonprofits or maybe even the schools in creating lessons that are tailored just for them. How does a teacher go about working with you to be able to do that?

James Fester: [00:22:08] Absolutely. So we have it on our website we have contact information. We're always looking for not just teachers that are passionate about collaborating on something, but if they have their own ideas of something they'd like to create. We're always interested in hearing more about it. Some of the a couple of the projects we put together on the site right now, one of them was an urban design project that focuses around working class, how the working class houses and factory town outside of Chicago called Pulman, which is one of our newest national monuments that was just designated while when Obama was in office. That was actually put together with a teacher from the Chicago suburbs who wanted to do something in recognition of this of Chicago's first national park being created. The only thing that we were the only requirement we have is that once the project is created, that it can't ever be packaged or sold or put up on a Web site where people pay money for it, that it always has to be kept free. But the teacher who created it can do whatever the heck they want with it other than that.

James Fester: [00:23:12] You know, that's really the only thing we say. And we really do love especially working with teachers who are interested in lifting up local assets. One of the things that we just finished work that I just kind of finished putting together was a guide on using local landmarks, historic sites or old monuments. You know, the kind that you see stuck to the side of a building on a main street, or you see those those tablets on the side of the road, the big metal signs that talk about the history of the place that you're driving past. Helping teachers learn how to leverage those in the creation of lessons or authentic projects so that students can maybe learn a little bit more and get a greater appreciation for their own communities. And not have to always think that history was one of those things that only happens way out on the East Coast during colonial times. Or that that there's nothing special about the ecosystem that they are living in because they're not near the Everglades or near Glacier or something like that. Everybody has a story. Every community has a story that can be told as something that they can be proud of. And maybe it's just a matter of looking at it and lifting it up in a different way. And that's something that we love to work with teachers on as well.

Aviva Levin: [00:24:32] Going forward you mentioned putting lots of digital resources on the site and connecting educators in that way. What other things are on your dream list for what you'd like to see this project grow to be?

James Fester: [00:24:49] Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually incredibly happy that you asked that question, because one of the things that it's probably going to have to wait a little while, because it's definitely going to be a lot it's going to be a long term or an out there kind of dream. I have. In addition to being a teacher in the classroom, I've had the very good fortune of being a teacher at National for the National Park Service, for the California State Park Service, as a as an interpreter or a tour guide at some of these remarkable sites and places. And it's a different kind of teaching, obviously, than being in a classroom with a designated group of students. But there are a lot of things that park rangers do in the preparation of educational materials and programs for the general public that teachers could learn a lot from and adapt for use in the classroom. And so this idea of teaching like a park ranger is kind of something that I've been thinking about for a while and something that I really want to do, because we all know. How hard it is to be a classroom teacher. Now think of the fact that you see a different group of people every single day now. And in addition to that, you only have about on average, maybe about an hour with them before they leave. You have to be outside in an environment that you can't control. Nobody has any desks. Nobody ever has the materials they need. Oh, and you could also be eaten by a bear just about any time. Like now that right there. That is tough teaching, but it's something that park rangers do and they have, you know, and have developed teaching strategy and inquiry based mechanics and management strategies for supporting learners of all different types with all different interests. They've been doing it for years and years and years, decades, many of them. Imagine what you could learn if you could figure out what they do and the things that you could bring into the classroom. So that's kind of my like out there project. At some point in the future I'd love to put together a book or some sort of materials that help teachers understand how park rangers, parks and park rangers leverage the different strategies they have to educate the public. So that's. And so that that that's kind of where I'm hoping to go in the future. We'll see how long it takes.

Aviva Levin: [00:27:10] So for anyone inspired by this which, I'm thinking it's going to be a lot. I have to say, this is I was so excited when I saw your website. In talking to you, I'm just getting even more excited. How can they find out more or contact you?

James Fester: [00:27:26] Couple of different ways. We're on social media. We have an active Twitter handle, which is @parkbasedlearn all one word park. They learn we are going to do a park based learning, but we got cut off by the character limit on Twitter. Surprise, surprise. So that's when we could see the best ways probably to go to our Web site. Which the quickest way of getting there is bit.ly. So the shortened you are bit.ly/parkbasedlearning and you can see all of our materials there in that Web site. I run it off of my own personal prevent, my own professional Web site, but it's there. The projects are there for download. Our contact information is there if you're interested in learning more or working with us on a project. You know, that's pretty much how everybody that we've collaborated with has found us at one time or another. And that's that's pretty much the best way to do so. And every now and a lot of times all of our interactions are virtual, which works very well in what's going on right now with with our current shelter in place, quarantine society. So, yeah, we we love and if nothing else, if you just come, you look at our stuff and you like it please, please, please share it and recommend it to other people. Don't be shy about copy pasting links and things like that. That's that's how we get the word out. And we appreciate anybody who helps amplify or lift up the things we're doing.

Aviva Levin: [00:28:52] Well, thank you very much for sharing this and for sharing all of your resources. I can tell from your enthusiasm that there is no you know trick or scam in giving them only for free. But it's really it's really refreshing to have that in a time where teaching resources things seem to be more and more monetized.

James Fester: [00:29:11] Well, that's right. And again, thank you so much for having me on today. I really appreciate every opportunity I can to share things, especially especially with with with podcasts that are focused on so many things that I love and passionate about because I know they're gonna get to the right people. But yeah. Thank you again. Really appreciate the time. And thanks for the conversation.

OUTRO Aviva Levin: [00:29:33] Full disclosure, after we finished recording, I was so enthusiastic about what he was doing that I immediately started talking to James about collaborating on a volunteer project I'm involved in at a small local history museum. We also ended up chatting more about national parks as resources, and the fact that, according to a 2010 study, over 90 percent of visitors were white. James shared with me an article that examines the potential reasons for the under-representation of people of color in parks programs and the systematic barriers to participation that need to be overcome to correct this. I've included a link to that article in the show notes and on the website, as well as links to the resources that James mentioned and the park based Learning Gallery of Projects. If you want to find out more about what educators are doing around the world, check out Lesson: Impossible dot com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider rating and reviewing on iTunes or forwarding it to a colleague you think would enjoy it. This has been Lesson: Impossible and I was your host Aviva Levin.