Outdoor Learning Lab

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Learning Comes Alive in Nature

The Inspire Academy Outdoor Learning Lab is designed to be a microcosm of pre-industrial Indiana, with three sections: wetlands, woodlands, and prairie grasslands. While the woodlands are still in the development phase, the wetlands and prairie grasslands are available for daily use by teachers, students, and our community.

Our Outdoor Learning Lab gives students meaningful opportunities to explore nature, engage in hands-on learning, and build a deeper connection to the environment and each other. Whether tending gardens, studying ecosystems, or learning through play and observation, students experience learning in a way that is active, joyful, and rooted in real-world understanding.

Learning Through Exploration

In the Outdoor Learning Lab, students:

Observe and study plants, insects, and wildlife
Conduct hands-on science investigations
Practice teamwork and problem-solving outdoors
Build curiosity and confidence through exploration
Learn to care for living things and the environment

Here, learning feels real — because it is. Students don’t just learn about science, they do science.

Growing Curiosity & Stewardship

Our outdoor program helps students:

Grow responsibility and empathy through nature care
Experience the joy of learning beyond the classroom
Develop environmental awareness and stewardship
Strengthen physical and emotional well-being

Nature offers endless lessons — and our students are encouraged to notice, wonder, question, and explore every day.

A Space Built for Discovery

Our Outdoor Learning Lab features:

Gardens and native plant beds
Nature-based learning stations
Open space for movement, teamwork, and observation
Areas designed for curiosity, creativity, and hands-on inquiry

It’s a space where students can dig, plant, investigate, build, imagine, observe, and play — all while connecting learning to the world around them.

Real-World Learning. Lifelong Growth.

By engaging with nature, students build skills that last far beyond elementary school:

Curiosity and problem-solving
Collaboration and communication
Resilience, patience, and responsibility

The Outdoor Learning Lab is more than a program — it’s part of who we are. At Inspire Academy, students don’t just learn about the world — they learn in it and from it.

Importance

Habitat & Climate

Not only do our wetlands provide a unique learning experience for our students, they contribute to maintaining the health of our national ecosystem.

Wetlands provide a holding space for the release of flood waters and snow melt, as well as a nursery for many fish and amphibians.

Our wetlands are designated as an emerging wetlands habitat by the US Fish and Wildlife Services. Learn more about the importance and status of wetlands in the US by reading the

Wetlands Decline Report

Flora

Plants

Many unique plants grow and thrive in wetlands that don’t grow and thrive anywhere else.

Our students get firsthand experience identifying these plants and learning the difference between native plants and transplanted ornamentals.

To learn more about all the plants that grow in midwest wetlands, check out the comprehensive list below that serves as a resource for things like scientific scavenger hunts at our school.

National Wetland Plant List

Fauna

Animals

Anyone who spends even a short amount of quiet time in our wetlands can hear that they are full of the music of frogs, peepers, and other small noise makers.

While class pets can be fun, our wetlands allow students to observe animals in their natural habitat, hiding under rocks and grasses, or sunning on the edge of the water.

The link below has a fun activity to help you identify wildlife, an activity similar to what our students experience as part of our Outdoor Learning Lab curriculum.

Cool Creatures in Midwest Wetlands

Purpose

Ecosystem

Our prairie grasslands serve multiple purposes. Indiana songbirds depend on prairie grasslands for both food and nesting. Pollinators, like honeybees, benefit from grasslands filled with wildflowers. And even many ground animals find refuge in the grasslands. Our grasslands also work with the wetlands on stormwater management.

National Geographic Explains Grasslands

Maintenance

Planting & Burning

Caring for prairie grasslands is low-maintenance. Once planted with the native grasses and flowers, they grow naturally in our climate. Every 3 years, the grasslands must be either cut or burned. If Inspire Academy hosts a supervised, educational grasslands burn event, the community will be invited to observe and learn.

Songbirds

Author

As grasslands deplete, so does the songbird population. Our goal is to bring as many varieties of songbirds to our property so that our students can observe birds that are becoming rare. And in so doing, we hope to make these birds less rare. A walk in the grasslands is a walk filled with bird sounds.

Songbirds in the Grasslands

In Development

Our woodlands will take years to develop. First, we had to clear out all the non-native, non-hardwood species from the area. Then, we had to replant baby trees. Without a water source nearby, these baby trees are reliant on climate, and some plantings don’t make it, require plantings multiple years in a row to develop a healthy section of woodlands. Once enough trees are stable and hardy, we will map paths and create paths through the trees we are nurturing to create a quite space of reflection. The space will need at least 5 more years to noticeably be a woodlands and 7-10 more years to enjoy the shade and scent of woodlands air that can be found nowhere else but in a tall grove of trees.

Come See Learning in Action

When you visit Inspire Academy, you’ll see students learning with curiosity, joy, and purpose — both inside and outdoors. Our Outdoor Learning Lab is just one way we help students connect to the world, think deeply, and grow confidently.

Ready to explore Inspire Academy?

Schedule a Visit Learn More About Our K–8 Program

2801 E. 16th St. Muncie, IN 47302

Telephone: (765) 216-7980
Fax: (765) 216-7798
Email: info@inspiremuncie.org