No Child Left Inside isn't just for kids.

"Stories emerge from particular places," says Penn State University professor Bob Burkholder. And students in his Adventure Literature course find their stories in some of the most beautiful places in the mid-Atlantic: the rivers, shores, and open lands of the Chesapeake Bay.

Burkholder's class is called "Sailing the Chesapeake: Cultural and Natural Landscapes." Once a week, it meets to explore the history and ecology of the Bay, with readings from authors like James Michener, William Warner, and John Barth. Sounds fairly traditional—but there's adventure in the syllabus, too. The class also canoes on the Susquehanna and West Branch, spends a weekend at the Echo Hill Outdoor School on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and plants trees to restore fragile shorelines.

When the class paddled the West Branch of the Susquehanna recently, they saw a "tremendous diversity" of wildlife, Burkholder reports—even a mink. On other trips, they travel the back roads of Amish Country, or sample Maryland seafood on the Eastern Shore.

As they write about their experiences, participants express amazement at the natural world that surrounds them. "Students have no idea that when they're here in State College, they're in the Bay watershed," says Burkholder. "When they see the Susquehanna, they're appalled at the tires and things they find at the bottom.

"They love collecting the crayfish. And they really like to do water testing and macro studies (surveys of the small bugs in a stream that indicate the health of the water)."

Burkholder was inspired to add water testing to his curriculum three years ago, during a trip he took with Sally Schach, manager of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Susquehanna Watershed Education Program, also referred to as SWEP. "After that, I went right out and bought my very own kit," he says. "I think teachers are always looking for ways to enhance attentiveness, and I've found that water testing and macro studies help students see things in a way they never have before."

A regular feature of the class is a stream bank planting done with CBF, where PSU students pitch in to plant shrubs and trees near waterways. They learn how the roots filter runoff naturally, removing contaminants before they reach the stream. "This November, we actually did a planting on a small dairy farm," Burkholder recalls. "We got to talk with the farmer about his no-till operation. He was pretty advanced in terms of his knowledge of water quality and the Bay."

Burkholder's students see the Chesapeake through a double prism: both classroom study and hands-on experiences in the wide watershed. "I think there's a lot of merit to the idea of taking small kids outside," he says, referring to the current movement to expand environmental education for children. "But we also need to do it with university students."

For more information, visit the CBF/Pennsylvania webpage.

11/29/2008