Urban Students and Urban Serpents: The Effects of Hands-on Learning in Student Perception of Snakes

摘要

Snakes and teenagers share a common negative stereotype and are often maligned or feared because of this reputation. Here, I present observations and an analysis of shifts in high school students' perceptions of snakes after completing an in-tensive eight-week course, including participation in field stud-ies of urban garter snakes. These observations support the inclu-sion of such experiential and in-depth programs in schools as means both to teach science and foster understanding and ap-preciation of the natural world. Programs providing such oppor-tunity can work to reverse negative public image of both snakes and teens.