The Secrets of Chuyville, a learning lab in the woods: Using Jalisco’s great natural resources for education
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- Published on Friday, 31 May 2013 13:23
- Written by Michael Forbes
Chuyville is the name I gave to an area in the Primavera Forest where naturalist Jesús “Chuy” Moreno has been teaching kids about science, nature and survival for many years.
I stumbled into this remote area one day while hiking in the woods and was surprised to find myself in the middle of a great many crude, teepee-shaped shelters made of tree branches and pine needles. I eventually learned that these had been built by kids who were learning about plants, animals, insects, soil, ecology, etc. during the many summer camps for kids he has organized over the years.
Each time I lead a group of hikers to Chuyville, I tell them, “What you are looking at here is an outdoor classroom and an educational success story. This is the place where a great many kids were transformed into enthusiastic investigators of natural science.”
When I asked Moreno just how many children have studied nature with him out in the woods, he replied, “Well, I’ve been doing this for twenty years. When I started, I had groups of 4 or 5, but soon I had more and more, as many as 120 kids at a time. I haven’t kept count, but the answer is in the hundreds.” Many of those hundreds, he adds, turned to careers in biology, ecology or conservation, “and a few ended up becoming mountain climbers.”
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