Sierra Outdoor Classrooms Prepare for a New School Year

For thousands of California students, heading back to school doesn’t always mean returning to a classroom with four walls.

Sometimes the classroom is a forest trail.

It might include examining plants and wildlife, learning the history of the Sierra Nevada, conducting a science investigation beside a meadow or discovering something about themselves while hiking through Yosemite National Park.

As another school year begins, outdoor education programs across the Sierra are preparing for a new season of taking learning outside.

Two programs — Sierra Outdoor School near Sonora and NatureBridge in Yosemite — offer different versions of the same basic idea: some lessons are easier to understand when students can experience them firsthand.

Learning in the Sierra

Sierra Outdoor School, operated by Clovis Unified School District, provides outdoor science, history and adventure programs from its campus in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Sonora.

Students can choose from more than 25 classes covering natural sciences, local history and outdoor skills. The school’s programs primarily serve fourth- and sixth-grade students, with naturalists teaching hands-on lessons rather than relying solely on traditional classroom instruction.

The curriculum can include environmental science, California natural history and conservation, along with lessons examining the Gold Rush and its impacts on Indigenous communities.

Other activities take students even farther outside the traditional classroom experience, including team-building exercises, wilderness survival skills, climbing, high ropes and a zipline.

The school also operates a Raptor Center, where non-releasable birds can become educational ambassadors for visiting students.

Helping deliver those experiences are the school’s naturalists and naturalist interns.

Sierra Outdoor School’s 2026-27 naturalist internship began Aug. 3 and runs through June 4, 2027. The 10-month program trains interns to teach science, cultural history and team-building while developing their own skills as outdoor educators. Applications are continuing to be accepted.

Yosemite Becomes the Classroom

Farther south, NatureBridge takes the outdoor-classroom concept directly into Yosemite National Park.

NatureBridge provides overnight environmental science programs for students in grades four through 12, with small groups heading onto Yosemite trails alongside professional environmental science educators.

Instead of simply reading about ecosystems or geology, students can explore Yosemite’s valleys, meadows and giant sequoia forests while participating in hands-on science activities.

NatureBridge says its programs are designed not only to build science knowledge and critical-thinking skills, but also to strengthen relationships and encourage students to see themselves as environmental stewards.

The organization serves more than 30,000 students and teachers annually across its national park programs, which include Yosemite as well as Golden Gate, Olympic and Prince William Forest Park.

NatureBridge’s Yosemite program is also preparing for another school year. Its Yosemite environmental science educators work with students both in Yosemite Valley and at the organization’s National Environmental Science Center.

For the educators themselves, the work requires a somewhat different skill set than teaching inside a conventional classroom.

They need to understand environmental science and education, but they also need to manage groups outdoors, adapt to changing conditions and help students safely navigate experiences that may be entirely new to them.

NatureBridge requires Yosemite educators to have relevant teaching experience and Wilderness First Responder certification, or obtain the certification before beginning work.

Lessons That Can Be Difficult to Replicate Indoors

Outdoor education isn’t simply about moving a traditional lesson outside.

At Sierra Outdoor School, naturalist interns receive training in subjects ranging from educational theory and group management to local natural and cultural history. They may spend one lesson teaching science and another helping students work together on a challenge course.

NatureBridge similarly combines environmental science with experiences intended to encourage personal growth, relationships and connections with the natural world.

For some students, these programs may also provide one of their first opportunities to spend several days immersed in the Sierra Nevada or a national park.

And that may be one of the most important lessons these outdoor classrooms offer.

A forest, meadow or granite landscape stops being something students have only seen in a textbook or on a screen.

For a few days, it’s simply where they go to school.

More information about Sierra Outdoor School is available through its official website. Information about NatureBridge’s Yosemite environmental science programs is available through NatureBridge.

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Feature Photo: NatureBridge students take part in an outdoor learning experience in Yosemite National Park. Programs like NatureBridge and Sierra Outdoor School are preparing for another year of taking education beyond the traditional classroom.
Photo Credit: NatureBridge