As a science teacher at Mesquite's Gentry Elementary School, Beverly Murray-Ferrell made good use of the woods just outside her classroom, going out to collect leaves, bugs and spiders to use in her lessons.

Then, she said, it hit her: "Why am I bringing my bugs inside?" The students should be going outside.

She ran with the idea, putting on her white lab coat and asking the principal for support in creating a nature trail. It took more than a year, but the trail opened this month at the school in southwest Mesquite.

The city already had a paved trail alongside its wooded property at the school's border. Murray-Ferrell's idea was to put instructional signs along the pathway to turn it into an outdoor classroom.

"Any time you have a science class, you could go out there," Murray-Ferrell said. "Having the signs, there's a reason for the walk."

Rain has kept students from the trail since it opened, but a few went out the day before the dedication earlier this month.

"They came running to me and said, 'Ms. Murray, see this tree; it's got black caterpillars all over it.' "

The project was supported by Keep Mesquite Beautiful, the Mesquite ISD Education Foundation, the city, the school district and the Lowe's retail chain. It cost about $5,000.

Education-themed trails such as Mesquite's are unusual, though other cities have explored similar ideas. Recently in Richardson, a neighborhood helped raise nearly $150,000 for a park meeting area that will double as an outdoor classroom near Prairie Creek Elementary School.

In Mesquite, the trail helps further one of the aims of Keep Mesquite Beautiful, along with the state and national versions of that program, said Jessa Thomas, Keep Mesquite Beautiful executive director.

"More and more kids are not really caring about the environment because they are not outside," Thomas said. Providing nature trails as part of the curriculum helps give them an appreciation of nature and the importance of the environment, she said.

Five colorful signs, like those found at zoos and outdoor museums, explain such things as the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle, food chains and the life of amphibians. Each is carefully tied to state educational objectives.

Other schools are expected to use the trail, and Murray-Ferrell hopes others will raise money for more signs and, eventually, carve an outdoor classroom into the woods.

Gentry principal Lynne Noe said she thinks the trail will be well used. "Teachers are always looking for ways to make science real."