The Full Circle Program
An Introduction for Teachers and Administrators

Full Circle is a holistic, integrated, multi-disciplinary learning and enrichment program. Using nature as the curriculum's starting point, Full Circle equates natural ecology with human diversity and community interaction. The program weaves an experience of civic awareness that incorporates the natural world, modern technology, ancient wisdom, teambuilding, wilderness skills, natural science, and the arts and culminates with participation in a community service project.

Meeting weekly over the course of two months with elementary school classes, Full Circle combines field trips to local parks and open spaces with classroom and community activities that explore the relationships and intrinsic parallels between nature, human ecology and personal behavior.

Through a series of interactive, hands-on activities, students apply these principles of interconnection on a social level by forming cooperative groups that work together throughout the program. They learn firsthand that all of our actions, both negative and positive, have an impact on the world around us for which we are responsible.

By helping each child develop an understanding of their personal impact upon a community — be it the natural world or their urban environment — and a sense of responsibility for that impact, Full Circle helps them make an important step toward becoming a socially conscious individual. As they discover the importance of diversity within an ecosystem, they also begin to understand and appreciate the diversity within their own classroom and within their surrounding community. It is this focus on character development, communication skills and conflict resolution that sets Full Circle apart from traditional "nature" programs.

Like other outdoor-based programs, Full Circle does provide urban school children with the rare opportunity to experience nature and outdoor activities. But more importantly, Full Circle also provides children with a bridge to their everyday world; a perspective and understanding of how these experiences are relevant to their lives and how their newfound knowledge and skills can be integrated into the classroom and the community.

Each week, students acquire new tools of communication and awareness, as well as a deeper understanding of the world around them. It is this developmental progression from each program level to the next, with the all-important classroom follow-up, that makes Full Circle especially unique.

Naturally, since the length of the program necessitates close collaboration and coordination with the classroom teacher, they play an essential role in the success of the program by integrating the Full Circle activities into their regular curriculum for the eight-week period. Therefore, professional development is an important part of Full Circle. The Wildwoods Foundation conducts two daylong trainings for participating teachers. In addition, we provide teachers with support materials and a series of between-session follow-up activities so that they can revisit and reinforce the themes explored during our outings with the class.

The success of these types of methods has been documented by the State Education and Environment Roundtable. Known as SEER, the organization is a consortium of sixteen state departments of education from around the country. In their nationwide study "Closing the Achievement Gap," SEER explores a methodology that they describe as Environment as Integrating Context (or EIC). This does not specifically refer only to environmental education (although outdoor experiences are usually featured), but rather using the surrounding environment to teach the subject matter at hand. From the Executive Summary of "Closing the Achievement Gap" comes this simple definition: "It is about using a school's surroundings and community as a framework within which students can construct their own learning." SEER describes the key elements of the EIC approach as interdisciplinary, collaborative, student-centered, hands-on, project-based learning experiences.

In 2000, the San Diego-based SEER explored this topic further by conducting the "California Student Assessment Project," a comparison study of eighteen California schools: nine that employed EIC methods and nine that practiced "traditional" methods. Not only are the standardized test scores, math and reading levels higher at the EIC schools, but the study also showed that participants developed an increased awareness of community and environmental issues as well as higher self-esteem and critical thinking skills, resulting in reduced truancy, fewer incidents of behavioral problems and greater involvement in community activities.

It is precisely this approach that the Wildwoods Foundation brings to the Full Circle program, with an added focus on character and personal responsibility. Through this experience students develop a better understanding of their role within a group or community and their responsibility for their impact upon that group. Consequently, Full Circle results in a classroom environment that is more conducive to learning.

In their post-program evaluation, the teachers participating in the Full Circle pilot program reported, "(The program) enhanced students' awareness of community needs and the important part each person plays in helping a classroom community function well. The children were able to reflect on the impact of their own behavior… We still see children listening more attentively in discussions and demonstrating more awareness of the people around them. Our students are more willing to take responsibility for their own behavior and to self-correct as needed."

If you are interested in bringing Full Circle to your school, please take a moment to review the Benefits & Commitments page.