IslandWood class of 2023 alum, Sam, is currently one of the Researchers in Residence at IslandWood. The program is an opportunity for Graduate Program alumni and visiting scholars to conduct research and to work with and share their learnings with current IslandWood Graduate Program students. ‍‍

Sam’s project, “A Linguistic <ecosystem>: Word Study Methods in the Outdoors,” asks the question of how literacy instruction in outdoor education, specifically looking at morphology and etymologies of complex scientific words, can help students feel more grounded in their identity as scientists.

In this curricular research, School Overnight Program students will look at context and place-based words such as “ecosystem” and “macroinvertebrate” and work together to take it apart to create a shared definition, learning tools for word investigation along the way!

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Learn more about our graduate program in partnership with the University of Washinton here.