Groundwork Bridgeport

The B.A.T. program is an interactive indoor and outdoor classroom in which Groundwork Bridgeport staff and board members train Harding High School students to teach basic science, math and environmental awareness to elementary school students using the full life cycle of live butterflies as the teaching tool. One of the most valuable aspects of the program is the mentor relationship that develops between the Harding High School students, who lead the classes and teach the subject matter, and the urban grade school students.

Over the past three years, the B.A.T. Program has grown to serve ten Bridgeport schools, including Luis Munoz Marin, High Horizons Magnet, Beardsley, Hooker, Blackham, Read, Longfellow, Columbus, and Multi-cultural Magnet Schools and Harding High School. Also, a multi-grade after school program has been created for the Ralphola Taylor Community Center YMCA.

- Environmental enhancement
- Providing traditional and environmental educational opportunities for youth
- Youth-to-youth mentoring
- Developing and fostering community partnerships.

The B.A.T. Program utilizes Just-In-Time learning, a technique that not only teaches a child's mind math, science, or ecology, but burns it into the child's muscle memory as they apply new learning to solve real problems in their butterfly gardens. For example, a lesson in garden planning that includes math lessons in dimensions quickly turns into experiential learning when the child is faced with calculating, and then moving cubic yards of topsoil.

The B.A.T. Program is funded by General Electric, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and the Barnes Foundation and is also supported with volunteers from General Electric, Scared Heart U., Fairfield U. and Prep and the Beardsley Zoo.