White Pine Elementary students explore the outdoors on Outside Day

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• Natalie Bartley: Trips give kids hands-on learning experiences

  Natalie Bartley: Trips give kids hands-on learning experiences

  Former teachers Ralf Provant and Brian Reynolds helped turn a river into a science lab.

  The Boiseans created Wild Science Explorers, a 10-year-old nonprofit program that teaches at-risk teens hands-on science lessons during rafting trips.

  "They are often left behind their peers in science and math," Reynolds said. "(On these trips) we talk about geology, hydrology and botany all day long," he said.

• Boise educators receive environmental education awards

  Boise educators receive environmental education awards

  Two Boise educators have been recognized for their dedication to student learning and the environment by the Idaho Environmental Education Association.

  Dr. Dick McCloskey has received the 2009 Idaho Professional Environmental Educator of the Year award. McCloskey, who joined Boise State University in 1973 in the biology department, retired last year. He served 10 years on the board of directors of the Idaho Society for Energy and Environmental Education and 12 years on IdEEA's board of directors. He also has been active in the North American Association for Environmental Education.

  Dick Jordan, an environmental science teacher at Timberline High, Boise, received the 2009 Idaho Secondary Environmental Educator of the Year award. Jordan is known for his knowledge of the outdoors, passion for sharing this understanding with students and for creating educational conservation programs, organizers said. He introduced the first environmental science class in the district and is the driving force behind the addition

• Zimo: Want healthy kids? Turn off the TV and get them outside.

  Zimo: Want healthy kids? Turn off the TV and get them outside.

  W atch kids in a campground and you'll see them lose themselves in the outdoors. In a good way - not one that involves search and rescue.

  They lose themselves in activities that don't involve a screen, but something green.

  My wife and I have been to a lot of campgrounds this spring and summer and have seen kids totally wrapped up in the outdoors.

• Zimo: Conservation licenses are a good idead for funding state wildlife lands

  Zimo: Conservation licenses are a good idead for funding state wildlife lands

  You may have to pay to hike or go bird watching in Idaho's wildlife management areas.

  A bill in the Idaho Legislature would require a conservation license to use the state's WMAs for such things as mountain biking, boating or other recreation.

  The state has 32 WMAs, which are managed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and dedicated to providing habitat for big game, waterfowl and upland birds.

• Boise preschoolers learn early lessons in sustainability from the composting system in their classroom

  Boise preschoolers learn early lessons in sustainability from the composting system in their classroom

  The worm composter sits unobstrusively next to pint-size book shelves, an easel, tables and chairs in Meghan Sterling's classroom.

  You can't even smell it.

  Several kids have their fingers in a pile of compost on a table, searching for worms to put back in the "hotel."

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