Yale Center for Teaching and Learning

Yale Nature Walk

The Yale Nature Walk is an example of project-based learning in the Sciences. Students were assigned trees on campus, and tasked with extensively researching the species as well as a creative project that showcases their newfound knowledge. They published all of this information, as well as photography detailing the leaves, bark, flowers, etc. on the Nature Walk site. At the end of the semester, students presented their research and their creative project live and the presentation was taped, which will appear on the site.

Members of the community may take the Nature Walk tour themselves! The mobile-ready StoryMap site allows anyone to follow along with the tour in person and view all of the student research and projects.

The Yale Nature Walk is a project developed in Professor Marta Wells’s course EE&B 223L Evolution, Functional Traits, and the Tree of Life in conjunction with staff from the Center for Teaching and Learning.

This project engages students and the community while promoting awareness of Yale’s natural resources. This effort will lead to a public Nature Walk with the data students have contributed. The project welcomes creative submissions from the community, such as artwork, poetry, photography, videos, or other types of media.