Episode 87 - Student Driven Assessment in Inner City Nature Education with Chantel Zimmerman

When you think of a 'nature school', most of us don't think of Newark, New Jersey.   It's incredibly urban, and set in a world that is almost completely dominated by human engineering.    To make a nature program work, it helps to start small, and to throw away the idea of 'what a nature school should look like'. This concrete jungle is where Chantel Zimmerman began her education journey.    She eventually left the public sector to create a successful nature program called The Sensory Garden, where she demonstrates the power of nature based learning every day. Her passion and excitement around the benefits and outcomes that nature can provide fuels her advocacy and she shares programs for urban schools to involve student assessments and inquiry based models that can be transitional stages for public education. We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, and I loved hearing about her ideas and strategies that can benefit youth and educators everywhere. Website:     https://www.sensorygardenandplay.com/ Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/sensory_garden_and_play/ Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/chantel.hernandez.395 Join the Forest Educator Patreon! https://patreon.com/ForestEducatorPodcast Connect with Ricardo: https://www.foresteducator.com/ https://www.theforestboxforkids.com/ https://www.hawkcircle.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricardo-sierra-5980931/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_forest_educator_podcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RicardohawkSierra