Creating a Master Naturalist Curriculum

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Creating a Master Naturalist Curriculum

• Dr. Michael Jeffords
• Illinois Natural History Survey

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A Master Naturalist is

• One who appreciates, understands, and respects
  the natural world, and in so doing, nourishes a
  sense of belonging with the rest of Nature.

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The Master Naturalist expresses

• this ever growing affinity by
• learning more (about Nature) whenever possible
• communing with Nature in meaningful ways
• conserving and restoring the Land Community
• modifying behaviors to lighten his/her personal
  footprint and
• Sharing personal knowledge and experiences with
  others.

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The Master Naturalist Curriculum

• Cur-ric-u-lum A set of courses constituting an
  area of specialization

The Master Naturalist curriculum should be
created and organized in such a fashion that it
follow basic tenets for quality instruction.
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1st Tenet for Quality Instruction

• Each topic should be finite in scope.
• Too much information is worse than too little.
• Keep the background material short, succinct, and
  to the point.

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2nd Tenet for Quality Instruction

• Provide activities, tools, or other types of
  interactions that can be used to increase
  knowledge of the subject with active
  participation by the Master Naturalist trainees.
• They must obtain enough confidence in what they
  know to feel comfortable passing it on to
  others.

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Field Experiences

• Are essential!

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3rd Tenet for Quality Instruction

• Materials must be enticing so they will be read
  and absorbed by the MNs, meaning individual
  chapters/sections cannot be too long or go into
  too much depth.
• The depth can be investigated in other ways, such
  as with activities specific to each part of the
  topic that is important.
• We must remember that MNs are getting only a few
  hours, at most, with each topic, and they will
  feel comfortable only with the
  materials they have had direct
  contact with.

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4th Tenet for Quality Instruction

• In its current state, the MN Curriculum is
  mostly a reference work, not a curriculum.
• The curriculum should be designed to provide an
  entrance into the topic that will motivate the
  trainee to seek more information from the
  reference manual, MN website, or other sources.

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5th Tenet for Quality Instruction

• The curriculum should provide a guide to how the
  MN Program expects its instructors to perform.
• Most instructors (e.g. university types) are used
  to the lecture format and will use that, unless
  otherwise instructed, motivated, or guided.
• They will also use the textbook style for
  presenting written information to the audience.
• In its current state, the MN curriculum largely
  reflects this, although parts are
  well-done and will readily fit the
  proposed format.

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6th Tenet for Quality Instruction

• Knowledge sought on ones own is likely to be
  retained far longer than knowledge projected on
  him/her from a stage.
• The instructors task is to motivate participants
  to become life-long self learners, which
  implies that some instruction is needed in
  evaluating various sources of information.

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In Summary

• Effective Master Naturalist instruction should
  typically employ a mix of

• lecture
• interaction by instructors with participants
• interactive activities
• field experiences.

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Proposed Course Structure Model for Illinois
Master Naturalist Program
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Proposed Chapter Structure Model for Illinois
Master Naturalist Program
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Core Curriculum

• We propose the following content
• Background / introduction of up to 2000 words per
  topic (with color photos/graphics)
• A core PowerPoint presentation to accompany each
  topic (can be modified by each instructor as they
  see fit)
• Skill-building activities that can be used in
  classroom or in the field
• Action projects that can be taught in the field
  and applied to volunteer activities
• Activity template for customizing
  and creating activities specific to
  various areas of Illinois

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Activity Template

• Title
• Investigative Question
• Overview
• Objective
• Materials
• Time to Complete
• Advance Preparation

• Introducing the Activity
• Procedure
• Assessing the Activity
• Extending the Activity
• References

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Instructors

• To be asked to be a Master Naturalist instructor
  is an honor and a privilege and seeks to tap the
  abilities and knowledge of those chosen.
• The mere act of asking implies the designee is an
  expert in the subject matter in question, but it
  also carries with it the expectation of
  innovative, quality instruction
  from that same expert.