MONONA, Wis. -- A group of Janesville middle-school students were given the chance to be naturalists for a day during their field trip to the Aldo Leopold Nature Center.

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Located just off the Beltline in Monona, the center was inspired by the naturalist who first began the fight to save Wisconsin's prairie more than 50 years ago, WISC-TV reported.

The center offers student an up-close and personal experience with birds and other wildlife.

"Just learning about new things kind of gets me jumpy," said Kyle Popovich, a sixth-grade student at Edison Middle School. "It's actually pretty fun. You get to use a lot of techniques."

Walking through the prairie allows students to experience things that neither a teacher nor book could convey.

"I think it's great for (students) to get out and get their hands wet and explore and learn a little bit about nature and what lives in the pond," said Virginia Wiggen, a naturalist at the center. "Hopefully, they can apply some of these things when they're back home also."

The young naturalist-in-training were able to learn the importance of keeping the land and lakes clean while also learning about the wide variety of wildlife and insects in the area.

Diamond Shannon, another of the sixth-grade students visiting the center, said that she found the field trip to be insightful.

"I learned that there's many different species in the wild so that's my favorite part, and then we'll get to try to see them all in this catching them thingy," said Shannon.

Although the students visited the center to wrap up their school year, they and others can also visit the center during the summer months.