Outdoor and Environmental Education

Brookville Outdoor & Environmental Education Center

This centrally located, 20- acre site offers programs in three areas of focus:

• Adventure Education,
• Homestead Ecology
• Ecology.

See how these programs meet the New York State Learning Standards.

Driving Directions to Brookville
 

Adventure Education

Adventure Education programs include survival, orienteering, GPS,  challenge courses (both low- and high-ropes courses) and overnight tenting programs. These activities facilitate personal and interpersonal growth (communication, problem-solving, trust-building, risk-taking, and cooperation) and help to meet district goals for the NY State SAVE legislation. These are excellent choices for teams, peer counseling groups, at-risk students, teacher inservices, and all groups seeking a strong cooperative experience.

• Survival:
  Students discuss basic human needs and how to respond in a survival situation. Activities may include shelter building, fire building, the acquisition of food and water, trail-marking, and basic first aid. The importance of cooperation and shared decision making is emphasized in this activity.
   
• Orienteering: 
  Applying mathematical and scientific skills, students learn how to use a compass and calculate distance through pacing. Groups then work cooperatively to complete an orienteering course.
   
• Low Challenge Course- New Games, Initiatives and Low Elements:
  Groups move through a series of hands-on activities designed to
  develop communication, cooperation, trust, and problem-solving skills in an atmosphere of safety, respect, and fun. Participants are guided in making connections between these activities and "real-life" situations. Teachers report a positive impact on classroom climate, student performance, and interpersonal dynamics when these activities are reinforced in the
  classroom.  
  • See what a program looks like! Click here for pictures of 7th graders from  the Bethpage School District.
  • See our Links pages for a collection of resources related to challenge activities

  "A fun way for the kids to learn ...and they hardly realized they WERE learning things about themselves and their peers. They really learned to trust one another and problem solve" ~ 5th grade teacher
   

• High Challenge Course - High Ropes Experience (Middle School-adult): 
  These activities build upon the group skills and trust developed in the low elements experience. All high elements are at a 25-35 foot height and present individuals with a personal challenge of expanding one's comfort zone with the support of the larger group. Student teams assist our staff in supporting each
  climber. Positive communication, trust, and appropriate risk-taking are all elements of this process. 
  See what the High Ropes experience looks like! Click here for pictures of 8th graders from the Bethpage School Dsitrict.
   
• Climbing Wall (Middle School-adult): 
  "The wall" is a 32-foot high structure with climbing and rappelling routes which present the student with a level of challenge suited to his or her abilities and desires. Teams of students assist our staff in providing the support necessary.

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Homestead Ecology

Homestead Ecology programs give students a hands-on learning experience through participation in Early American craft activities and the nature trail systems. With comparisons to modern day living, this program helps students to develop an appreciation of the colonial lifestyle and comparative technologies.

Outdoor Cooking:

Students prepare a recipe implementing techniques used by the early pioneers. Emphasis is placed on simple cooking techniques, fire building and safety.

Pioneer Construction - The Log Cabin:  

The techniques employed in constructing a log cabin and its furnishings are emphasized. Early American tools, such as axes, drawknives, gouges and adzes, are used.

Broommaking:  

Students construct an old-fashioned broom using natural materials including broomcorn (sorghum vulgaris), which was grown by early homesteaders.

Blacksmithing:  

The blacksmith played an important role in the Early American community. Students are instructed in the techniques and tools used at the forge and have the opportunity to work on a group project.

Corn Husk Dolls 

Students construct their own corn husk dolls while comparing their lives with children growing up on Long Island 100 years ago.

Candlemaking: 

Students  make a traditional hand-dipped taper and learn the history and importance of candling in Colonial America.

Apple Cider Making (Fall Only): 

Using a cider press, students make apple cider and discuss the importance of the apple in the diet of the early settlers.

Native Americans / Primitive Technologies:  

The skills, customs and games of Long Island's first inhabitants are explored through hands-on activities such as stalking, cooking, storytelling, and the use of primitive tools.

Organic Gardening: 

Students learn the basic techniques of planning and planting a vegetable garden. The importance of companion plants, composting, earthworms and insects are demonstrated. The influence of Native Americans in gardening ("The three sisters" garden) is also stressed.

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Ecology at Brookville

Ecology based programs include nature trail, birding and others suited to a special season.

Creative Interpreters:

This program allows the individual student time and place to quietly experience the sights, sounds, and smells of the natural world and then to express these feelings in a story, poem, essay, sketch, or artistic display. This activity can be integrated into other programs such as survival and nature trail and overnight programs.

Birds: 

Designed for younger students, this program includes observation of birds through binoculars and scopes; the examination of bird adaptations through use of bird costumes; and the making of a pine cone feeder by each student.

Bunny Program (K-1):

Through the use of games, stories, and hands-on activities, students learn about rabbits and their special adaptations. Rabbit tracks are compared with other animal tracks and students search outdoors for tracks, traces, and perhaps even live rabbits!

Creative Explorers (Winter):

 The Native Americans viewed winter as a time for creative thought and expression.  Students explore the winter environment and express their observations using various artistic and linguistic techniques.

Winter Explorers:  

The class forms a winter search party to find out where the plants and animals go during the winter months and to examine how the animals and plants adapt to the cold weather environment.

Winter Survival:  

By examining the many facets of cold weather survival. students compare and contrast human's needs to the needs of other animals in a cold weather environment.

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Contact:

Mary Miller, Program Specialist, for scheduling information
mmiller@mail.nasboces.org
Phone: (516) 396-2264

Mary Watros, Program Specialist and site director
mwatros@mail.nasboces.org
Phone: (516) 626-1420