Program Gives Urban Students a Hands-on Environmental Education
By Karlyn Barker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Life vests fitting snugly, Tysean Curington, Elijah Ballou and Jamia Anthony, fourth-graders from Ketcham Elementary School in Southeast Washington, stood on a dock 30 miles from their urban neighborhood and peered into a bin of shells to try to spot "river critters."
Enthralled, they and their classmates poked through the shells and squealed in amazement as they found tiny shrimp, oysters, barnacles, mussels and a mud crab, all of which make their home in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
"It's right there! Get it, get it, get it!" screamed Tysean, 10, pointing to a shrimp.
The youngsters scampered about, enjoying every minute of a recent field trip to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, on the bay's western shore. They fished off the dock for crabs, measured the depth and temperature of the water and wiggled into rubber chest waders as they explored the Rhode River to learn more about the region's aquatic environment.
Ketcham is one of 15 public schools in the District participating in this year's DC BayWatch, an outreach program that teaches third-, fourth- and fifth-graders the science, culture and philosophy of conserving the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The program is one of several operated by Discovery Creek Children's Museum of Washington, a nonprofit organization that provides environmental education programming and outdoor nature experiences to students, their families and teachers.
"This is set up to expose D.C. public school students to other areas of the watershed, and to get them out to see that this water is connected to their water," said Emily Jagusch, Discovery Creek's bay programs manager. "They don't get out of the classroom a lot, and this is hands-on experience with what lives in the water."
The students also perform some of the tasks that adults with conservation careers perform. "This morning, scientists were out in a boat testing the water quality, and we're doing the exact same thing," Jagusch said. "The kids think that's pretty cool."
Amy Erb, an education specialist at the Smithsonian's research center, said the condition of the bay is considered "very poor," with chemical and other pollutants at high levels. The Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake, has been judged one of the 30 dirtiest rivers in the country.
"One of the main reasons for bringing kids to the center is to get the conservation message out, to plant the seed that we need to start taking responsibility for our actions," Erb said. "Educational researchers have found that if elementary school-age children experience something firsthand, they are more likely to remember it and be interested in it as they grow and progress."
Earlier last month, Ketcham students visited Discovery Creek's Schoolhouse, on MacArthur Boulevard in Northwest Washington, the only remaining one-room schoolhouse in the city. In a nearby creek, they searched for macroinvertebrates, such as frogs and bugs, to determine water quality.
The program also includes a trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast, where the National Park Service runs a wetlands restoration project, and a cruise aboard the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Susquehanna workboat to explore the Anacostia and Potomac rivers.
"Each year the students just love this," said Diane Towles, a fourth-grade teacher at Ketcham who teams with the school's science resource teacher, Arliree Cooper, and art teacher, Donna Simpson, to participate in the Discovery Creek program, which is free for under-resourced schools in the city.
"The kids get excited just seeing the horses on the drive out here," Towles said.
Here's what they had to say:
"I think it's great," said Tysean, who was making his first trip to the bay region. "I didn't know about crabs, or that the female has a different shape on its stomach than the male."
Elijah, also 10, dropped bait from a string at the dock, trying to catch a crab.
"I wanted to see the crabs and the shrimp, but touching the creatures feels funny," he said. He stopped talking when he felt a tug on the string.
"I feel something heavy," he told Jagusch. "How do you know if the crab is going to get it?"
"You don't," she replied. "Crabbing is a hard job."
"I'm doing things I've never done before," said Jamia, 9, dunking a waterproof thermometer into the river to test the temperature. "I learned how you look at oyster shells."
At a nearby beach, students donned protective gear and waded into the water with nets to see if they could find more critters. Some children who had seen a water snake's head protruding from the surface were concerned.
"Would a water snake hurt us?" one child asked. No, she was reassured, it would swim away from all the commotion.
The nets scooped up more crabs, shrimp and a brightly colored pumpkinseed fish. They were placed in a tub of river water and later released after the children had a chance to look at and touch them.
"It feels nice when you first touch it, but it feels like it can cut you," said Elijah, holding the small pumpkinseed fish. "It feels a little bit cold."
Tyisha Christian, 10, said the trip was exciting. "It made my day to come here," she said. But some of the critters, she confessed, "give me the creeps. Some stuff I saw, I just didn't touch it."
Steve Gauss, a volunteer who helps with student groups at the Smithsonian facility, said elementary school students are "wonderful" to work with.
"They're curious, interested, not disruptive," he said. "They have a good time out here. It's a very popular program. Some school group is out here every day."
Mika Zanders, 10, said she had been fishing once but had never had a chance to go crabbing or to seine -- dragging the river with a net to capture critters.
"I liked everything," she enthused. "We couldn't wait for this trip."
DC BayWatch is offered every spring. The $77,500 cost of this year's program is being underwritten by Project AWARE, Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Wallace Genetic Foundation, said Jessica R. Fraser, Discovery Creek spokeswoman. Discovery Creek hopes to expand the program to more schools in the future.