 An Outdoor Learning Play Space at the Waisman Center University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Welcome to the Discovery Garden Web Site!
Because of its unique design features and location within a university setting, the Discovery Garden will serve as a national prototype for inclusive early education in an outdoor environment. The Friends of the Waisman Center, a non-profit support organization of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center, seeks a community-based partnership to create the Discovery Garden.
The Waisman Early Childhood Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is an ideal site for this innovative outdoor play space. A model school, the WECP is designed to meet the needs of a developmentally diverse group of young children. It also is a training site for university students in many disciplines, a destination for international visitors, and a resource for early childhood programs in Wisconsin. The WECP reaches out to families and receives strong community support. The goal of the WECP is to provide a supportive and stimulating environment that fosters each child's social-emotional, cognitive, language, and physical development. The WECP provides an inclusive educational program, reflecting the overriding philosophy that all children can fully participate in the preschool program.
The WECP emphasizes a respect for individual differences, focusing on the positive contributions every person can make to his or her community. Children with disabilities benefit from the combination of individual programming within a broad array of development-enhancing experiences. In addition, typically developing children leave the WECP with an appreciation of what people with disabling conditions can do, as well as skills that enable them to interact with people with a range of abilities.
Two core beliefs in the field of early childhood education are the importance of child-directed play and the influence of the physical environment. Children learn best in open-ended activities they can initiate and direct. The role of the educators is to thoughtfully plan learning environments in which children's learning can be enhanced. Playground design may be considered as a continuum. On one hand, there is the notion that children's playgrounds should include equipment such as swings, slides, and climbing apparatus. On the other hand, playgrounds may be conceptualized as green space emphasizing natural elements such as hills, sand areas, vegetation, boulders, and logs to provide the "stuff" of children's play. The Discovery Garden will emphasize this naturalistic perspective, along with the judicious use of equipment. This view is based on the belief that an outdoor experience should include an appreciation of the natural world, opportunities for adventure and discovery, exploration and experimentation that are provided in an informal and naturalistic outdoor space.
The WECP provides an ideal site—a spacious, gently sloping landscaped area adjacent to classrooms. The previous play space had some serious shortcomings, however. Among these were the lack of full accessibility for children with the most severe disabilities and those with multiple disabilities. The previous space had poor grading and inadequate connections between play areas, as well as unused expanses of space. As the Waisman Early Childhood Program looks toward its future, this outdoor play space has insufficient play areas for expanded enrollment planned for the year 2000, including inadequate age-appropriate learning areas for infants and school-age children. Additionally, this outdated facility limited the WECP's full value of training of professionals, outreach to the community, and resource sharing among other university departments. The design of The Discovery Garden will be based on a principle of the WECP program: to present a thoughtfully planned environment where children can conceive and focus their play. This learning process allows children to experiment, explore, imagine, and socialize. The goal of The Discovery Garden is to move beyond mere accessibility of the space to a fully inclusive space. In other words, not only are the physical barriers removed, but meaningful activities are made available for children with special needs to participate in along with their typically developing playmates. Accordingly, the design concept for the Discovery Garden will include these components:
  The Discovery Garden and The Community Along with serving the WECP families and university students-in-training, the Discovery Garden will provide enrichment and support to families throughout Dane County and the state of Wisconsin. Many of these community events (six annually) will be planned cooperatively with community-based organizations. These events will allow this model inclusive outdoor learning environment to be shared with area educators, community pre-school programs and a broad constituency of groups supporting young children and families. An advisory board will be established to promote creative outreach programs to families and expand innovative programming at the playground for families in the community. Some of the events envisioned include: Recreational
The Friends of the Waisman Center initiated a fund raising drive in the fall of 1998, with an anchor gift of $25,000 towards an initial goal of $100,000 for this project. By May 2000, the Friends exceeded this goal with the help of many community partners. As the project has progressed from the planning stages towards implementation, however, the total cost for this project more than doubled, due primarily to the cost of making all garden areas fully accessible. The Long and Winding Road, for example, was initially conceived of as a pathway along several borders of the garden. After discussions with parents, teachers, and specialists in early education, the pathway was expanded to link all areas of the Discovery Garden, thus enabling children with the greatest physical challenges to explore and enjoy the garden along with their peers. The composition and width of the road—smooth concrete and six-feet wide throughout—enables children to walk or wheel safely side-by-side. Due to the increased budget, the Friends restructured the implementation of this project to occur in stages, with the first stage to involve extensive excavation, grading, resurfacing, fencing, and construction of lawn areas and garden beds. Also scheduled for phase 1 was completion of the Long and Winding Road, the Lookout Tower, Amphitheater, Winding Riverbed, and the preschool area (Lilliput Place), as well as installation of equipment that has already been acquired. These tasks have been completed. The Friends has set a goal of raising an additional $50,000 in the first few months of 2001 in order to cover site preparations and equipment purchases that have already been done, as well as the remaining equipment purchases and installations remaining in phase 1. In subsequent phases, other elements of the garden will be implemented, such as the art and play walls, plants and flowers, as well as additional equipment. As of January 2001, funding total reaches $125,435. A summary of current donors is as follows:
 Naming Opportunities for Donors Naming opportunities will recognize donors of $1,000 or more with plaques at major destinations in the Discovery Garden. Major donors of $20,000 or more will be offered the opportunity to host one of the educational events in the Discovery Garden. As the host, the donor will be consulted about the theme and target audience for the event. The day will be promoted in the donor's name. Donors at all levels will be acknowledged in the program for the dedication of the garden and will be included in all promotional materials. Donors will also be recognized in all press releases and other media activities planned for the entire opening year of the Discovery Garden.
The Waisman Center
The Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of 14 national centers dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about human development and developmental disabilities through research and practice. Building on a 25-year tradition of excellence, the Waisman Center has embarked (September 1998 groundbreaking) on an expansion project that will dramatically enhance research and services, including remodelled space for the Waisman Early Childhood Program. The Friends of the Waisman Center The Friends of the Waisman Center was established in 1976 as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. A membership organization with a board of directors drawn from the community, its primary objective is to support the activities of the Waisman Center, all of which benefit people with disabilities and their families. The Friends also fosters community-based partnerships, which help the UW-Madison's Waisman Center share its resources and expertise with the people of Dane County and Wisconsin and brings community perspectives to the attention of the Center. The Friends sponsors a number of projects on an ongoing basis that serve families in the greater Madison area, including: (1) the Waisman Center Children's Theatre, a series of live performances for children that is staged in a fully accessible auditorium and provides special accommodations for people with physical challenges; and (2) the Waisman Early Childhood Program Scholarship Fund, which assists families in financial need who have a child enrolled in the Waisman Early Childhood Program (WECP), a model school for children of all abilities. In addition, the Friends funds many types of activities in conjunction with the Waisman Center objectives of research, training, services, and outreach to the community. Recently, these activities have included: (1) funds to enable families in financial need to attend leadership training programs or educational workshops at the Waisman Center; (2) funds to establish a family resource room in the year 2000, with the assistance of American Family Insurance, for parents seeking information about child development, developmental disabilities and the special health care needs of their children; and (3) public information materials, including Abilities, a new Waisman Center videotape and A Profile of the Waisman Center, a booklet documenting progress at the center and highlighting the center's partnerships with groups and organizations.
This proposal for a Discovery Garden expands the Friends community-based partnerships and will provide another opportunity for the Waisman Center to share its resources and expertise with the people of Dane County and Wisconsin.
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Last Updated 22-January-2001 Waisman Center ~ 1500 Highland Avenue ~ Madison, WI 53705-2280 Telephone: (608) 263-5776 or (608) 263-5910 ~ TDD: (608) 263-0802 FAX: (608) 263-0529 ~ webmaster@waisman.wisc.edu ~ www.waisman.wisc.edu
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