August 4, 2004

RIPPLE big splash with educators

Water study program links area science classrooms with local environment

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       From dams and habitats to sediment and erosion, 18 area teachers and 13 area high school students learned the basics of the Grand Traverse Watershed.
      Part of the four day Research, Inquiry and Public Partnerships for Local Environmental Education - or RIPPLE for short - the goal is to link area science classrooms with the local environment. The Great Lakes Water Studies Institute hosted the program, with staff squiring participants around the watershed Monday. They stopped at points such as the Brown Bridge Quiet Area, Ranch Rudolph, restoration sites near the YMCA and the mouth of the Boardman River.
      A range of community partners, including John Nelson, the Baykeeper with the Watershed Center, Steve Largent of the Boardman River Project and staff from the DNR and Conservation Districts, talked with participants at each site.
      At the Brown Bridge Quiet Area, for example, Todd Kalish, a fisheries biologist for the DNR, and Largent discussed the history, environmental impact, costs and benefits plus the possible future of the dam there.
      Teachers in the program came from schools in Leelanau, Antrim and Grand Traverse counties. Students were drawn from Traverse City High School as well as West and Central High schools.
      "One of the things that is so neat about this is that we had so many people who wanted to participate," said Tim Erwin of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. "I think the point of it for the students is we tried to do needs assessment for the kids: what do you want to know and how do you like to learn? They liked being part of the learning process and they all like getting out and getting their hands dirty."
      For teachers, the four-day program links them to local people and organizations in the field of environmental science, which they can draw upon for future lessons. In addition, the teachers also will learn the basics of water chemistry and how to conduct water samples.
      At each stop Monday, participants broke into small groups and explored three areas: the importance of the site, the questions they had about the site and the locally relevant issues about the site. This analysis also helped prompt participants to look at each issue in context of the whole watershed.
      Taking the RIPPLE experience back to her students, classroom and school is exciting to Kim Fleming, a science teacher at Central High School.
      "Whenever you can enhance classroom materials with real life studies, you want to do it," said Fleming, who noted the RIPPLE program applies most to her tenth-grade environmental science classes. "Also, this will help them understand the impact of their recreation on their surroundings and just gives them more of a community connection."
      "It's just a real passion I have to make sure the water's clean for future generations," she noted.
      Program participants will meet four times during the year, said Becky Cooper, a member of the Great Lakes Water Studies Institute's staff.
      "Each teacher will come up with a community project for their students, working with watershed partners to find out what needs to be done," Cooper said. "And the kids are going to have direct curriculum input with the teachers, which is very unusual."