Virginia Museum Receives Children and Nature Grant
Martinsville Bulletin – May 15, 2008
The Virginia Museum of Natural History and The Harvest Foundation have announced a new initiative titled the Children and Nature Educational Network, in which nature will be used as an educational laboratory.
The Harvest Foundation has given the museum a three-year, $215,350 grant for the program that will offer children an interactive approach to outdoor learning and will complement what they learn in area schools.
“This is a unique concept,” said Harvest Foundation Program Officer John Estes. “The program and the partnerships that will be developed by the VMNH will be one of a growing number of efforts around the country that have a common aim of getting children and adults off the sofa and into exploring, learning about and appreciating the local natural resources.”
VMNH has successfully developed community events that have enabled the public to take advantage of the museum’s state-of-the-art facilities and exhibits. However, with the help of this initiative, the museum hopes also to shed light on how valuable a resource nature can be in education, according to a release from Harvest.
Providing learning opportunities for children in an outdoor setting not only helps children appreciate the environment, but it also has been linked to helping them develop lifelong creative thinking skills as well as healthy and physically active lifestyles, the release states.
“Put simply, the purpose of the ... program is to provide more opportunities for children to learn, enjoy and just be outdoors,” said Dr. Dennis Casey, director of education and public programs at VMNH. “Today, people are spending less time outdoors and many of the experiences are now electronic or virtual. Without real-world, outdoor experiences, the knowledge and experiences communities enjoy from natural spaces will not be passed on to future generations.
“This program is designed to not only provide new programming but also to tap into the many existing resources our community has to offer. And, as a natural resource agency, this project is a great fit. We will be able to participate in other efforts both statewide and on a national scale that are aimed at re-connecting children and nature,” Casey said.
The Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers, Virginia Association of Museums and Heritage Preservation. It is an agency of the Secretary of Natural Resources for the commonwealth of Virginia.
The Harvest Foundation was established in 2002 from the sale of the Memorial Hospital in Martinsville.
This site contains copyrighted material. Click here for more information on C&NN's Fair Use Policy. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
C&NN has designated April "Children & Nature Awareness Month." As part of this effort, we invited network members (like you) to list their April programs and share their strategies for building public awareness. Find out what's happening in your community on the C&NN Movement Map.
As part of our ongoing efforts to build the movement, the Children & Nature Network has published two new resources for leaders, organizers, and participants at the local, national, and international levels:
An annotated bibliography of 20 premier studies focusing on the children and nature connection.
