Today's students are the key to a sustainable future; they are the next generation of environmental stewards. URI's educational program, Open Spaces as Learning Places, rests on a simple but cutting edge premise: nature is all around, even in the city. Through this place-based, hands-on program, hundreds of sixth grade students from around New Haven have explored city parks and community greenspaces

The Open Spaces program balances classroom learning on key ecological concepts with outdoor experiences that bring these ideas to life. Students search their schoolyard for overlooked plants and birds; witness vacant lots reinvented as community gardens; identify trees and habitats at a city park; experience the watershed on a canoe; explore the community living in a pond; and connect human history to the environment by visiting a historic cemetery. This program opens kids' eyes to the nature in the city, and teaches them how they can protect their urban resources.

For more information on Open Spaces as Learning Places please call URI at:
203 432 6189 or email our Education Coordinator, Justin Pegnataro:
justin.pegnataro@yale.edu