Featured Audubon Center Programs

Mitchell Lake Audubon Center

San Antonio, TX

Project Compass Program

Project Compass is our newest and most popular science curriculum at MLAC. Project Compass is a hands-on, inquiry-based program that engages 3rd-8th grade students in the practice of the scientific method, including hypothesis development, field data collection using various scientific tools, and data synthesis and inference. Students have the unique opportunity to witness in nature the very biological processes they learn about in the classroom, enhancing comprehension of often difficult and abstract concepts. Ultimately, our goal is to improve students' scientific literacy and critical thinking skills, leading to improved academic achievement.

During the Project Compass program, students are the field scientists exploring our four main habitat types: wetlands, brushlands, tree stands, and grasslands. Student scientists are assigned the challenge of seeking evidence of food, water, and shelter sources, plant and animal adaptations, and food chain interactions. The investigations include collection and recording of qualitative and quantitative data using a variety of scientific tools including data loggers, probeware, binoculars, and hand lenses. No field investigation could be successfully accomplished without proper navigational equipment. Every student that participates in Project Compass is taught how to use a compass, why a compass works the way it does, and is responsible for leading their teams along the path of our scientific journey.

Over 4,500 students have engaged in our Project Compass curriculum since its inception at MLAC in the fall of 2007. Another 1,000 students are scheduled to participate this spring. Learn more »
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Randall Davey Audubon Center

Santa Fe, NM

Fifth Grade Ecology Program

The Randall Davey Audubon Center’s (RDAC) Fifth Grade Ecology program engages Santa Fe fifth graders in a four day learning experience in their own schoolyards and at RDAC’s nearby nature center. In an outdoor setting, the program explores the idea of an “ecosystem” and allows students to practice skills important to scientific inquiry. On the first day of the program, students use their observation skills in the classroom and then in the schoolyard to describe the size, texture, color, and shape of items they find. On day two, students return to the schoolyard where they learn about classification and practice categorizing different living and non-living items they come across. The theme of the field trip, which takes place on the third day of the program, is “asking questions”. At the Nature Center, students explore a collection of skulls and try to identify the corresponding animals by asking questions and making observations. The class then moves outside where students explore, observe, classify, and ask questions about three different “plots” in the piÑon-juniper forest. On the fourth day, students share their data and create a final art project depicting the ecosystem of a favorite animal. The program has been extremely well-received, and many teachers sign up year after year. It has been especially popular among teachers and students because it integrates fifth grade science standards into an active, creative, and enjoyable outdoor experience. The program is offered for free, and only to low-income schools, through a grant from the City of Santa Fe. Learn more »
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