About OBIS
"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil... It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate."
~ Rachel Carson, A Sense of Wonder
While the American childhood experience has changed dramatically in the last 35 years, the integrity of OBIS activities remains timeless. Free exploration in Nature is no longer an integral component of the modern childhood, but the good news is, it takes very little to reestablish this relationship in a lasting, meaningful way. The research is consistent: integration of the outdoors in a child's experience, enhances learning, general health and attention.
What was OBIS? What will OBIS become?
Developed in the 1970s at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley, OBIS provides a set of strategies and tools to help adults (teachers, parents, community leaders) engage young people in thinking about ecological principles in their local area. To maintain ecological integrity, each lesson focuses on specific snapshots of ecology. These simple experiences then act as a gateway for children and adults to explore and understand their local environment. The 97 OBIS activities can be used together or individually.
First published in 1974 and last revised in 1982, OBIS has been out of print for the last twenty years. Originally designed with the informal educator in mind, it caught on like wildfire with classroom teachers.
Who is OBIS for?
OBIS was originally designed for use with 10-15 year-olds (grades 5-8). However, both younger and older participants, including families, enjoy participating in OBIS activities. Community groups use OBIS activities in their programs. Schools use OBIS as a supplement to classroom activities, outdoor education programs, and environmental awareness projects.
When can you do OBIS?
Any time is the right time! The beauty of OBIS is the versatility of the activities. There are activities for daytime, nighttime; winter, summer, spring or fall; rain, snow or shine. Take a minute to examine the many categories that organize activities by type, content, or place.
Where can you do OBIS?
OBIS can be used wherever you happen to find yourself: schoolyards and backyards; cities and wilderness; street parkways and vacant lots; streams, ponds, lakes, rocky and sandy beaches. Some activities can be used in any type of site, while others are designed for specific habitats. Areas that support heavy human use are actually preferred to untouched, pristine environments.
The Biology of OBIS
Consider the thrill of lifting a log or an old board and discovering a myriad of organisms living underneath. Spiders, worms, sow bugs, crickets, salamanders, and fungi are some of the organisms that often form under-the-log communities. How are these organisms able to survive in this environment? What structural or behavioral adaptations enable them to exist under these special conditions? What might the community under the log have to do with us? These are the kinds of biology questions you will find in OBIS activities. Along with such questions, OBIS provides investigative tools for the participants to use in finding possible answers.
The OBIS challenge is to help children understand some of the interactions between animals, plants, and the non-living environment. To meet this challenge, OBIS uses the outdoor site as the laboratory in which participants have the opportunity to learn. We believe that children gain more understanding by investigating biological events where they naturally occur -- in the outdoors.
How can you lead an OBIS activity?
OBIS activities are easy to lead, easy to prepare, and require mostly simple or homemade equipment. No previous experience with science is necessary! And any biological information necessary to lead an activity is presented in the folio.