Mary Servino

Mary Servino is a member of our Fairfield Regional Board of Governors.

Mary Servino
Science Specialist/Coach, Discovery Magnet School, Bridgeport

“Michelle Eckman [Connecticut Audubon’s education director] reached out to our school. I’ve always loved the Audubon – my mom in California does the bird counts – and so when she called to talk about this new program, we invited her over. After she explained to us what Science in Nature was, I thought it’s kind of cool, so I signed on. With me being the science coach I went to all of the Science in Nature field trips as a chaperone so I could figure out what the kids were getting. I could then come back and either enhance it or help the teachers enhance it.

“Connecticut Audubon really worked on getting buy-in from the teachers: they had to prepare a powerpoint, the staff provided journals ahead of time, so the kids were responsible for filling out part of the journals before they even went to Audubon. The data collection was wonderful because the kids never get the opportunity to do that. And then there’s always a follow-up lesson that the kids get to do. It’s such a cool concept that I’ve never seen anywhere else.”

Join Mary as a Member of the Connecticut Audubon Society!

“The first year I went on every single trip. I was so excited about the first trip, I went to all the others. Animal adaptations, wetlands, bird ecology, rocks and minerals. I wanted to see how well this tied in to the science curriculum we already have.

“For Science in Nature, what has been so successful is that you have so many more educators than I would have at school. The kids are broken up into small groups, 8 to 12 kids. They are more confident about saying some of their opinions and ideas. The educators are really good about making everyone feel safe and comfortable, and they’re really good about making everyone feel included.

“All the kids are able to use the anemometer or the data collectors to collect the temperature of the air or the temperature of the soil. That’s a huge thing for me – in a small group setting to make sure they’re actually using the materials that scientists use. And it doesn’t stop there. They have to record that data and think about how scientists use that data and what that data means.

“It goes above and beyond classroom settings. The kids have to understand the whole picture. That’s what I really like about Science in Nature.”