Here is a general overview of the daytime classes and programs offered at Blue Ridge OEC; however, each class can be tailored to fit your particular goals and needs, i.e. to cover material for a scouting merit badge, or to teach a specific curriculum requirement.
Our classes conform to many of the Georgia Standards of Excellence at all grade levels.
Animal Ecology
Our Animal Ecology program invites students to engage directly with the fauna of Georgia through hands-on exploration, animal encounters, and outdoor discovery. This interactive learning experience fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and a deeper appreciation for wildlife and ecosystems. Students will get a chance to meet the ambassador animals in the Blue Ridge OEC Nature Center, develop their observation skills, and uncover the amazing adaptations that help animals survive in their environments.
Our Animal Ecology program invites students to engage directly with the fauna of Georgia through hands-on exploration, animal encounters, and outdoor discovery. This interactive learning experience fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and a deeper appreciation for wildlife and ecosystems. Students will get a chance to meet the ambassador animals in the Blue Ridge OEC Nature Center, develop their observation skills, and uncover the amazing adaptations that help animals survive in their environments.
Program Options:
1.5 Hour Class: Includes free exploration time in the Blue ridge OEC Nature Center, animal meet-and-greet, and hands-on indoor activities tailored to your group.
3 Hour Class: Everything in the 1.5 hour class plus the Nature Mysteries Walk- a guided outdoor investigation of animal signs and habitats around camp.
Topics include: reptiles, amphibians, adaptations, scientific observation
Appalachian Geology
Take a journey through time in our Appalachian Geology class, where students discover how the landscape around them was shaped by powerful forces over millions of years. As they hike along creeks, ridges, and past dramatic rock faces, students will learn about tectonic activity, rock-types, and the ongoing processes of weathering and erosion.
Through interactive activities, hands-on exploration, and creative modeling, they’ll gain a deeper understanding of Earth science- all while moving through the very terrain they are learning about.
Topics: rocks & minerals, tectonic plates, and weathering & erosion
Aquatic Ecology
In our Aquatic Ecology class, students become stream scientists as they explore local freshwater ecosystems. Through biological sampling and chemical testing, they’ll investigate the health of Little Toccoa Creek and discover the hidden lives of aquatic macroinvertebrates. With an emphasis on data collection, teamwork, and environmental observation, students connect science to the real world- all while getting their feet wet.
Program Options:
1.5 Hour Class: Faster paced with greater emphasis on biological sampling.
3 Hour Class: begins with an introductory field game followed by chemical and biological sampling plus data analysis.
Topics: aquatic habitats, chemical testing, biological indicators, data analysis
Burma Bridge
Students learn how to build a unique rope bridge! This bridge will be constructed by students with help from chaperones during class where they will learn scientific concepts such as horizontal and vertical forces, simple machines, and mechanical advantage. Students will also learn knots and hitches.
Support is another critical concept for this class as students will learn how the separate ropes combine to make a bridge as ropes are tied together as well as students supporting one another by spotting while each student gets to use the bridge they just built!
1.5 Hour Class
Topics include: support, force, gravity forces, simple machines, mechanical advantage, hard skills (knots and hitches), critical thinking
Land Navigation
Land Navigation gives students the skills and confidence to explore the outdoors using maps and compasses. Through practice and challenges, students will learn how to read bearings, estimate distances, and navigate. This class promotes problem solving, spatial-awareness, and collaboration.
1.5 Hour Class: Basic map and compass skills with a short orienteering course to put it all together
3 Hour Class: Learn the basics and then put them into practice with creative and collaborative activities.
Topics: maps, compasses, topography, orienteering
Predator - Prey
This large group simulation is a way for students to see the dynamics of the food web in action! Students represent various levels of the food web actively seeking the food, water, and shelter they need to survive…without becoming food for a predator themselves!
Flexible Timing. Recommended as the last class of your trip.
Topics: habitat, survival needs, trophic levels, parasites, biomagnification
Team Building / Group Initiative
Students tackle a variety of unique physical and mental challenges while learning to work together. The lessons learned will be valuable in building a sense of community and problem solving skills during your visit, back at school, and for the rest of your students’ lives.
1.5 Hour or 3 Hour Class.
Topics include: effective communication, cooperation, trust, respect, problem solving
Trek!
Best suited for students fifth grade and older…including adults, too! Trek is a creative problem-solving adventure which combines a hike with team building elements. Participants work together to overcome a series of challenges including a cable traverse of Little Toccoa Creek!
Overcoming the obstacles encountered requires teamwork, imagination, and critical thinking. 3 Hour Class.
Topics include: teamwork, communication, and problem solving
A Walk In The Woods
A Walk in the Woods is a class that combines a hike, forest ecology, and nature appreciation. During this class you and your students will get the chance to not only learn what some of the plants and animals around you are, but you will also get the chance to sit and listen to the world around you while reflecting on it with poems and discussion.
If the Waterfall hike is just a little bit too long or your students just aren’t quite ready for it yet, then we have just the class for you!
1.5 Hour Class: Shorter hike with stops for observation, learning opportunities, and exploration.
3 Hour Class: Longer hike with more stops.
Topics include: basic forestry, poetry, observation, enjoyment and challenge of hiking
Waterfall Hike
Students hike up and over the ridge to a 20 foot waterfall. Along the way they will stretch their physical limits while exploring the natural world with a theme of learning through observation and reflection.
This is a difficult trail. The total distance to the waterfall is about 1.5 miles, making for a round trip of almost 3 miles with 500 feet of elevation change both there and on the way back.
3 Hour Class.
Topics include: basic flora and fauna identification, observation, enjoyment and challenge of hiking
