Building on our highly successful Little Green Guards^® program, we created a new learning platform, Conservation Science Investigators (C.S.I.), to connect children with nature. This initiative was born out of The Catalyst Creative Leadership Challenge 2019 workshop series hosted by The Nonprofit Institute of University of San Diego. Under the guidance of Drs. Randy Kunkel and Leslie Hennessy (Catalyst International), Board Members and Officers of LVDI International rose to the challenge of developing a novel project that not only demonstrates creative thinking but also enhances our organization’s outreach and impact.

Throughout the course of this three-month training our leaders combined creative problem solving with effective decision-making, and unwavering determination. The culmination of these efforts was a project that incorporates scientific methodologies into customizable and scalable lessons for children to learn about their nature. One example of a learning experience was to use a remotely triggered camera or camera trap as a tool to carry out a scientific investigation of wildlife species that occur in one’s own backyard. After a week of deploying the camera in a southern California neighborhood, we “discovered” that deer, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums and even bobcats share our habitat! Each of these animals has a story to tell. When is it active? What does it eat? What natural habitat would it prefer? There are many questions like these waiting for a child to answer, and we believe every child can be a Conservation Science Investigator.

Join us!