Curriculum

Overview: Texas Nature Project's curriculum is designed to encourage students to venture beyond the comfort of their chosen major, make the important connections that exist between diverse areas of study, and apply the lessons of the classroom to their lives in significant and meaningful ways. On the traditional campus students spend between ten and fifteen hours a week engaged in faculty-directed learning experiences. Our students can expect to spend a minimum of forty-five hours each week engaged in learning activities with our faculty. Our faculty and staff take great pride in being actively engaged in learning with students both inside and outside of the classroom. Whether students are listening to a lecture or sitting around a campfire socializing, every aspect of their lives is guided by high expectations and every waking moment is viewed as a learning opportunity. Since the college experience should rightly prepare students for life, we go to great lengths to help our students apply the lessons of the classroom in both their personal and public lives. The most fundamental aspects of our curriculum are equivalent in time, content, and rigor to a full-time, upper division course load in an accredited institution of higher learning in the state of Texas. Our curriculum includes the following important components:

1. The Ethics of Living. This course combines select readings from the original works of some of the world's greatest scientists, philosophers, psychologists, economists, environmentalists, historians, and astronomers with an examination of the creative works of some of the world's most respected poets, artists, and musicians. Students are exposed to the speeches, lectures, and sermons of the world's most influential politicians, educators, and theologians and they view and reflect upon some of the most powerful documentaries and films of our time. Special emphasis is placed on defining the qualities of character and personality associated with great leadership. Since value judgments are an unavoidable consequence of public and private life, students are required to reflect on the methods they employ to make the difficult "right vs. right" judgments. Right vs. right decisions, unlike right vs. wrong problems, can be approached and resolved in multiple ways. Students are encouraged to confront the difficult right vs. right dilemmas through the use of a values paradigm: community vs. individual, honesty vs. loyalty, short-term vs. long-term, assertive vs. passive, and justice vs. mercy. This paradigm is central to decision-making throughout the semester and students are often called upon to process how they have drawn from it to make their judgments.

2. State of Commitment. Eco-justice is really all about stewardship. Texas has some of the most beautiful and diverse natural spaces, geology, and wildlife in the world. This course seeks to instill a sense of love and respect for the natural world of our state through guided hikes, observation journaling, artifact digs, stargazing, wildlife identification and census, mentoring, wildlife care, select readings, guest lectures, photography, music, art, poetry, short stories, and independent exploration.

3. Major Change. This component allows students to draw upon their major area of interest in service to others in significant and meaningful ways. Each student works with our CEO to design a research-based nature-oriented service project in their chosen major. For example: (a) an education major might work with the local superintendent of schools to develop a tutorial program for K-6 children with learning differences that takes advantage of the positive effects outdoor play can have on the emotional, psychological, ethical, and intellectual growth and development of children, (b) a business major might work with county commissioners to determine how the county could create a for-profit recycling center, (c) a psychology major might work with area counselors to determine how interaction in nature impacts the health and well-being of elderly residents living in institutional settings.

4. Ethic of Care. Students are required to participate in a ten-day orientation and training in advance of the start of classes. This component is specifically designed to make the overall learning experience as safe and enjoyable as possible. Students receive preparation and training in: first aid, CPR, crisis intervention, community development, programming, personal ethics, policy development and enforcement, diversity, conflict resolution, fire safety, emergency weather response, hiking safety, the care of wildlife, wildlife census, property management, emergency repair response, and the proper use and care of ranch equipment. It is also during this time that standards of conduct, community responsibilities, and academic requirements and expectations are discussed and defined.

Students live with and work under a dedicated staff of professional educators. Enrollment is maintained at twenty-four students each semester. This limited enrollment makes it possible for students and staff to create the kinds of relationships that will support not only collective and individual achievements, but humane and sustainable societies.

Programs: Specific programs include community outreach, tree planting, indigenous and vegetable gardening, native wildlife identification and census, basic orienteering, observation journaling and drawing, planning and preparation of community meals, resource analysis seminars, weekly Socrates’ Theater on leadership, and community design.

Skills: Texas Nature Project students acquire skills and abilities such as critical thinking, conservation, conflict resolution, creative problem-solving, wildlife identification and care, alternative building, the basic principles of ecology, sustainable agriculture and forestry, community development, leadership, and value clarification. Even more significantly, students leave our program with a commitment to the values that bring meaning to life: love, peace, truth, justice, education, compassion, mercy, diversity, tolerance, hope, family, friendship, and community.

Active Learning:  Texas Nature Project offers a unique model for learning because participants are actively engaged in their education. Students can expect to make new and exciting discoveries every day, whether they are assisting with the creation of wetlands, identifying plant life and rock formations, interacting with wildlife, watching a movie, reading a poem, enjoying the night sky, listening to music, preparing a meal, shopping in town, sitting around a campfire, climbing a tree, or even riding one of the North Point Ranch four-wheelers or cherished Kawasaki Mules. This type of learning is ongoing, connected, and relevant to each student’s individual life, academic major, and chosen career path.

Interdisciplinary Studies: The Texas Nature Project’s curriculum is fully integrated and interdisciplinary, which is one of the most unique aspects of the Texas Nature Project. The course work appeals to a variety of college students. For example, business majors can directly connect local economies and practices, indigenous climatology, geology and biology, and the cost and time of packing and transportation involved in end product consumer goods, with marketing, sales and employment practices. Science majors and future medical professionals come to understand the relationship between our actions and our health. Writers and performing arts majors learn to not only identify natural materials in their creations but experience first-hand the wonders of the natural world that have inspired the most important artistic achievements throughout history.

Guest Visits:  Texas Nature Texas Nature Project will be happy to schedule a tour of Northpoint Ranch for interested students and their parents. You may schedule a tour by writing us at admin@texasnatureproject.org