Dr. Jennie Warmouth’s Second Graders
If the PAWS Education Team could hand out grades, each of Dr. Jennie Warmouth’s second graders at Spruce Elementary would receive an A+ for contributing to the PAWS mission.
Writing adoption descriptions for dogs and cats? Check. That’s part of the classroom writing curriculum. Holding supply and fundraising drives? Check. The students collected two tons of food and $297 in cash for PAWS this year. Field trips to PAWS? Check. They arrived by bus to learn about the impact PAWS has on animals and how the students can help.
Dr. Warmouth, a member of the PAWS Board of Directors and life-long animal advocate holds a PhD in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in the psychology of human animal interaction and the development of empathy. The impact of the PAWS curriculum on her students’ social and emotional development was even the topic of her dissertation.
“Our work with PAWS provides a first opportunity for students, some of whom are facing their own challenges, to improve the condition of another living being,” says Dr. Warmouth. Proof that the work makes an impression – alumni return year after year to mentor incoming second graders.
In early June, Dr. Warmouth completed an 11-day research trip to the Arctic as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow with National Geographic and Lindblad expeditions. She is using her experience to develop a special curriculum for the fall investigating the adaptations and connections be-tween American Black Bears in the Pacific Northwest and Polar Bears of the Arctic. It just so happens that three orphaned American Black Bear cubs are being rehabilitated at PAWS for release back to the wild next spring. “We’ll be investigating the human impact on bears and learning why these cubs were orphaned,” explains Dr. Warmouth. “We’ll be asking, ‘why are things the way they are and how can we improve them?’” Her students will be publishing their recommendations during the 2019-20 school year.
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