The classroom is a great place to learn, but the students who are taking a course in botany at the Academy for Science and Design got to take the classroom outdoors. This class of 16 students has had three field trips this autumn in order to learn about plants from nature rather than just from a lecture or a textbook. The first two trips were hiking trips, while the last was a visit to a museum.

While it may not sound like there was much learning to be done while walking around, that is not the case.

"For a class like botany, experiential learning is important," said Jody Creel, the teacher of the class. "You simply cannot cover the topic completely without the opportunity to study plants and plant communities in the field." And he is right. The study of botany requires students to get outside and observe what they are studying.

The first field trip to Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown taught students the correct methods of gathering and identifying plants. This trip involved hiking around the park and picking plant specimens. These specimens would be later identified using field guides and put in a scrapbook.

The second field trip was to Fox Forest in Hillsborough. This was another field trip that involved hiking. This trip was to see different habitats that a variety of plants could thrive in, while looking at how plants work in their ecosystem.

"When a class is studying plants, it is normal to bring plants to the classroom," said Tyler Loukides, a student from the botany class, "but due to this class’s size, it has become difficult to provide, especially because of our limited resources. So a day in the woods isn’t a bad thing."

The last field trip was to the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner. This field trip allowed the students to expand their knowledge of ethnobotany. Ethnobotany is the study of how humans use plants. In the classroom before this field trip, students learned about how different plants affect the human body and the people who relied on plants for a living.

Visiting the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum allowed the students to learn more about how the Native Americans valued and used plants, and the different areas in which the Native Americans lived.

"The Indian museum was a good opportunity to open my eyes to Native American culture and natural remedies," said Tabor French, another student from the botany class.

It is important for botany students to get out into the world and get a feel for nature. It is hard to teach the importance of the ecosystem that plants live in without actually seeing it. Plants play an important role in nature; they provide food, oxygen, medicine, beauty and so many more functions. It is important for the youth of this generation to learn about plants and how best to protect them. And to do that, students need to get outside and get in touch with their green side.

Joseph Romanow is a senior at the Academy for Science and Design in Nashua.