By Lucy Bryan
Marisa Saelzler is the media specialist at Chapman Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio.
Among her colleagues and students, she’s known and beloved for her ability to harness childhood wonder in service of learning. A day in her classroom might include a sewing demonstration to help students visualize inputs, outputs, loops, and patterns in coding. It might feature a visit to the school’s Outdoor Learning Lab to record notes about squirrels, birds or butterflies. Or it might involve a hands-on examination of a songbird replica—an opportunity designed to make scientific inquiry and observation accessible to students with visual impairments.
Saelzler’s ability to creatively connect art, nature, coding, and literacy helped earn her OSLN’s 2024 Excellence in STEM Teaching Award. She established Chapman’s Outdoor Learning Lab, which is now an Ohio Department of Natural Resources Certified Wild School Site and a National Wildlife Federation Certified Schoolyard Habitat. In the summer of 2023, she served as a Teacher in Residence at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. She has also shared her knowledge, skills, and passion as an OSLN facilitator for the Elementary-level Computer Science Program.
Saelzler finds inspiration in her two daughters, Maizy (age 7) and Marcella (age 6), and her husband Mark Saelzler, who is the assistant principal at Scioto Ridge Elementary.
“Marisa is a wonder herself!” a fellow teacher wrote when nominating Saelzler for the Excellence in STEM Teaching Award. “Every life opportunity is an opportunity to learn, explore, wonder and reflect.”
To find out more about the important work she is doing and her approach to STEM education, we asked Saelzler the following questions.
OSLN Excellence Awards accepting nominations until March 4, 2025
Each year, OSLN recognizes leaders that inspire and educate the next generation of Ohio innovators through the OSLN Excellence Awards. Awards are currently issued in three categories: teaching, leadership and partnerships.
The 2025 award winners will be recognized at the Ohio STEM Innovation Summit on June 3, 2025. Along with being recognized at the Ohio STEM Summit, the winners will be invited to a celebration dinner on June 2, 2025 and to apply to present at the 2026 statewide summit.
Q: Can you describe your school, the students you serve, and what a typical school day looks like for you?
A: Chapman Elementary School is a part of Dublin City Schools. I’d describe the school as beautifully diverse. Students have a variety of cultural backgrounds and diverse needs. I see every student in the school every week, and I work with students all day every day! The library is part of a four-day rotation that also includes art, music, and physical education. My day starts with bus duty, where I get to greet the students and welcome them. In the morning, I have fifth-, fourth-, and third-grade students for 50-minute classes. My lunch and planning happens during the students’ lunch and recess, so I am able to do extra things during that time with students—hosting special interest clubs, researching a particular topic further with students, creating alongside a student or group of students for a school initiative or project. In the afternoon, I work with first- and second-grade students for 50-minute classes.
Credit: Jennifer Gilbert Photography
Q: A lot of people, when they think of a school library, imagine rows and rows of books. Maybe these days, people also think of computer terminals and technology-filled spaces. But you actually spend a lot of time with your students outside the library—and when I say “outside,” I mean that literally. Can you tell us about the Outdoor Learning Lab?
The Outdoor Learning Lab is an outdoor space on our school property where the students can safely observe, investigate, and inquire. We begin our research outside (in the learning lab) and continue it inside (in the library), where students can access books and computers to further their investigations. We discuss this approach when we first begin our work together in the Outdoor Learning Lab: When a field researcher goes outside to observe, they do not bring every possible book they may need in their backpack. That would be way too heavy to carry around all day long! Instead, the researcher needs to pack light to be able to move around. The researcher prioritizes bringing something to record their observations (notebook, camera, audio recording device, etc.) and a way to identify or name what they observe (field guide, pocket guide, picture identification guide, etc.). When researchers are able to give a name—that is, to identify—what they are seeing, it gives them their first key to unlocking the inquiry questions ahead.
Our students at Chapman are not playing “researcher”; they are researchers. I think it is important for them to have access to the tools that they need to investigate, inquire, and innovate, so they use the same tools that field researchers use—field guides, pocket guides, informational texts and resources, binoculars, monoculars, measuring and magnifying tools, and so on. Our students record their observations in custom field notebooks that we make together during class. We practice different ways to record what we are observing. We notice and wonder with words, pictures, diagrams, labels, and written narratives.
For example, if a student researcher sees a blue bird flying, they try to figure out (identify) what kind of bird it is. They look in their field guide and see a bunch of blue birds. As they look closer, they notice a blue bird that looks exactly like the one they just saw. Its key traits (size, shape, markings) match. The student researcher is now able to identify the bird by a more specific name: Eastern bluebird. The student may continue to watch the Eastern bluebird and note its behaviors. The researcher may jot down questions such as, “What do Eastern bluebirds eat? What do Eastern bluebirds’ nests look like? Where do Eastern bluebirds live? Do Eastern bluebirds ever leave this area to go somewhere else?” The researcher now can take their named or identified observation to gather information and investigate further. They will need more tools then what they have with them currently. So, they will continue their research with materials available in the lab library through books and digital resources. What they observed in the field is driving their inquiry investigation to uncover answers, make meaning, and identify connections.
Outdoor learning labs look very different across the globe, depending on climate and intended inquiry focus. At Chapman, our initial inquiry started with birds. From that initial inquiry, students’ areas of interests have expanded into plant identification, native plants and invasive species, squirrels, butterflies, and rocks. My goal is for them to be able to learn and develop transferable skills, such as how to find information about things they are interested in and how to apply key components of computational thinking to everyday thinking and learning.
Photo credit: Jennifer Gilbert Photography
Q: What inspired you to create the Outdoor Learning Lab? Was it a personal interest in being in nature, a desire to meet student needs, a pedagogical instinct, or some combination of these things?
A: My amazing library aide, Patty Vetter, gave me my first bird feeder in 2022. She gave me a bag of birdseed with the feeder, so I had everything I needed to get started at home with to create a (bird) feeder station. My own children, Maizy and Marcella, were in preschool at the time. They were fascinated with the bird feeder, which brought so much joy and wonder to our house! Then my daughters (and my husband!) started asking questions about what they were seeing happen at our bird feeder and issues we needed to solve. Those inquiry questions helped expand my thinking about how we can research in a multi-sensory, age-appropriate ways.
Q: Many people never get the opportunity to engage in scientific field work—and if they do, it doesn’t usually happen until college or graduate school. What are the benefits of engaging elementary school students in this type of hands-on research?
Many times, students know about a certain profession because someone they know is in that profession—a family member or a close family friend, for example. When you know someone in a certain profession, you get to learn about all the ins and outs of the job. You might discover things that you may have never even known were a part of the job or unexpected skills needed for the job. In the Chapman Outdoor Learning Lab, the students are the researchers! They are getting to try on what it means to be a researcher. The students are learning the ins and outs of the job by being the researchers themselves!
Engaging elementary school students in this type of hands-on research has multiple benefits. It exposes students to a whole new world they may or may not be familiar with. When we learn outside in the lab, there is a range of background knowledge and experiences. Some students have a lot of experience in the outdoor environment, and for some students, this is all completely new to them.
I also think it is so important for students to hear and see that all skills are needed in the outdoor learning lab. For example, we need researchers to identify what we are seeing and finding in the lab. But we also need writers to explain and document what we are finding in the lab. And we need artists to help photograph our observations, create signage, and express thinking in different ways. There is a place for everyone in the outdoor learning lab. How the students use their gifts and talents to contribute to the outdoor learning lab is up to them!
Q: What kinds of feedback have you gotten from students, other teachers, school administrators, or parents about the Outdoor Learning Lab?
A: One of the best kinds of feedback I receive is when a student or family shares that they have put up a bird feeder at their house. It is amazing to think about families sharing experiences and learning together.
When I am out in the community with my family, I run into past students, past teacher workshop participants, people who know about the Chapman Outdoor Learning Lab, and they say, “I know you are with your family, but I saw this cardinal outside, and it had no feathers on its head. We have never seen that before! How can we figure out why it lost its feathers? Is there something we need to do to help?”
People always apologize, but I love it! It is evidence that they are thinking, inquiring, and making meaning of what they are seeing. It brings me so much joy to think about families uncovering these wonders together. These are meaningful memories that are not only good for your brain, but good for your heart!
Q: How does your training and background as a media specialist inform the way you approach STEM education with students? And conversely, have any of your experiences in the Outdoor Learning Lab changed the way you think about or approach your work as a media specialist?
A: One of the things I love helping students with is this: When you notice something new or wonder about something, what is the next step to finding out more? As a media specialist, I know there is no shortage of information available. I enjoy helping students figure out how to find information that is accurate, reliable, trustworthy, true, current, and unbiased.
The Outdoor Learning Lab has opened up infinite possibilities of topics to research, problems to solve, stories to be created, and possibilities to be imagined. For example, the students saw a crow and a hawk fighting in the air, which led to research and eventually a Who Would Win? – inspired book about the event. Another time, the students discovered a hummingbird with a broken wing on the playground. We called the wildlife center together and figured out what we needed to do next to help the hummingbird. This led not only to hummingbird research but also to the creation of narrative stories and comics to recount the story.
Q: Tell us about a memorable or meaningful moment in the Outdoor Learning Lab.
A: We were in the early stages of creating the Outdoor Learning Lab alongside students. We were discussing what makes a habitat—food, water, shelter, space—to help us figure out what we needed to do to make the lab a more inviting space to attract birds. We took a survey of the area. At that time, we had a bird feeder outside. A missing element was water, but I wanted the students to make that discovery and decide what to do next together.
One of the students mentioned that we needed water. Students began thinking about how we could possibly add water to this area of the lab. They shared a lot of different ideas, and then one student said, “in my home country, we put out pots and pans when it rains to collect the water.” Many of the students had never heard of using this strategy to collect water. The students were imagining what that process of collecting water with pots and pans would look like and all the steps needed to make it happen.
This imagining and inquiry led to a discussion around if anyone had seen anything similar to this idea but approached it in a different way. That question led us to connect the idea of using pots and pans to collect rainwater to the invention of the rain barrel. “Did the rain barrel start out as pots and pans outside?” Another research inquiry for us to explore and consider!
Q: Your work at Chapman Elementary School has opened the door to collaborations with organizations like the Ohio Department of Natural Resource (ODNR) Division of Wildlife and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Can you tell us about these collaborations?
It is really amazing when you get the opportunity to partner with organizations. It leads to a beautiful relationship in which you help each other in ways you never imagined because you are approaching a particular topic from different perspectives/viewpoints but with a common goal.
A lot of learning, research, and teamwork led to us becoming certified as a Wild School Site (ODNR – state certification) and a certified Wildlife Habitat (National Wildlife Federation – national certification). It was a huge “team win” and “school community win.”
A really fun and memorable story about getting certified was the final step in the process. There is a checklist of criteria you need to meet to become certified. We had fulfilled almost all of the items on the list in multiple ways, and the final criteria we needed to complete to become certified were in the sustainability category. We use mulch at our school, which is part of soil and water conservation. But we were wondering how we could potentially complete another item in that category because so many of the features of our habitat were out of our control.
Then something I will never forget happened: We were outside identifying trees with a pocket field guide. A few of the students became interested in identifying a particular tree. They figured out that it was a Callery pear tree, an invasive species! Two students were passionate about researching the Callery pear tree. The more they learned, the more they felt that they needed to take action. The students wrote a letter to send to the city about the removal of the tree. I helped the girls to send it, and I signed off on it as the teacher advisor. Once we’d done that, we realized that we had completed the final step for the national Wildlife Habitat certification. One of the components of the sustainability category was controlling non-native species. The students had researched and taken action on something they were passionate about, and it ended up being the last piece we needed to become certified!
I also had the opportunity to serve as a Teacher in Residence at Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, which was a dream come true. I will never forget my first day on site when they gave me my own keycard to access the lab 24/7! I worked alongside amazing experts in the field, and it was wonderful to see that what we were doing in the Chapman Lab was similar in a lot of ways to what they do at the Cornell Lab. At Cornell, I worked alongside the education team. Every year they host a global educator retreat, and my role was to lead the elementary educator (K-5) cohort. I also worked on curriculum and educational pieces for the lab while I was in residence.
A memorable moment at the Cornell Lab was when I got to change out the bird feeders on the Cornell Lab’s feeder station, which has a 24/7 livestream that broadcasts all over the world. It was an amazing honor to change the feeders. The Cornell Lab’s feeder station had played an important role in us figuring out how to set up our own feeder station at Chapman. It had also been an entry point for us with identifying birds and researching. I had always joked with my students that I would love to get to be the hand that changes the peanuts on the feeder station—and it ended up happening!
It was fascinating to be shown the behind the scenes of how the Merlin bird app works, since it is a product of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I explained to the Merlin team how exciting it was to see this side of the app, since one of the things I do as a media specialist is teach coding. I saw all these connections coming to life that I could not wait to come home to Chapman to share with the students!
I was recently selected to be on the Teacher Advisory Committee for the Columbus Zoo. I am excited to see how this new partnership takes shape! I am hopeful about the opportunities it may provide for students to solve real world problems and innovate with an authentic audience in mind.
Q: What advice do you have for educators and administrators who would like to start an Outdoor Learning Lab or a similar initiative at their schools?
A: Start small! Pick one idea to focus on, and see it through. Small steps add up. I also recommend finding academic and community partners who can support the work. And don’t forget to involve students each step of the way. They have the best ideas and are committed to doing the work. My students never cease to amaze me.
Q: What’s next for you and the work you do at Chapman Elementary School?
A: I am interested in how we can make the outdoor learning lab more accessible to all students. One of the things I’m thinking about is how the lab can be more physically accessible for students with mobility needs (wheelchair, walker, canes, etc.) and students with assistive communication needs.
For example, when a student who is blind or has a visual impairment uses a white cane to walk on a paved pathway, they use “shorelining” to keep themselves walking on the pathway. When there is no pathway, maybe only a field of grass, how do we provide a safe way for students with a visual impairment to navigate the space in the least restrictive way? How do we set up the space so that students have the freedom to explore, experience, and learn in a way that is safe and comfortable for them?
I am also thinking about literacies and languaging in the lab. How can we create signage that can help support our students with communication needs? How can we create signage that helps support our multilingual learners? How can we create signage that helps to support our pre-readers? How can we create signage that excites inquiry and deepens thinking?
The Chapman Outdoor Learning Lab is for everyone. All are welcome!
About this piece: This interview was edited by Lucy Bryan for the Ohio STEM Learning Network. Read more about the author and her work at: https://www.lucybryan.com/