Boston Public School students discover nature at Arnold Arboretum
As the school bus came to a slow stop on Meadow Road, 7-year-old Lucas Mattuchio was almost breathless with excitement. “Wow, look at that tree! Look at that one! Hey, there’s a squirrel,” the first grader from the East Boston Early Education Center exclaimed. He was eager to step into the landscape at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, a naturalized environment in the city that some Boston Public School (BPS) children don’t often get to experience. Mattuchio was about to become a “Young Scientist” as part of the Arboretum’s Field Study Experiences (FSE) seasonal program for BPS students from prekindergarten through fifth grade. The program offers guided hands-on explorations in and around the meadows, ponds, and woodlands of the Arboretum in alignment with BPS Life Science Study and Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Learning standards. The program was created to augment students’ classroom experiences. “What we do is unique in Boston because...