Hands-on Science in the Owens Valley

Article by Susan May Szewczak, Ph.D.
Appearing in the Oct. 25, 2001 Inyo Register

"Here in the Eastern Sierra we live with such an abundance of natural resources and local scientific skills. So why don't we have one of the best school-based, outdoor science education programs in the state?"

Two years ago, this question was posed during an Education Forum facilitated by the University of California, White Mountain Research Station. This Forum brings together teachers, university faculty, administrators, parents, governmental agency personnel, and other interested individuals to develop creative and cost-effective ways to meet the wide variety of student needs in the rural communities of the Eastern Sierra.

Forum participants began identifying outdoor science education classes in the area that they recognized as good models, like the 6th grade science camps at the Bernasconi Center in Big Pine and the K-12 field trips and summer camps held at SNARL [University of California Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory]. The ensuing discussions led to the development of a new outdoor science program in Inyo County called "Scientists in the Classroom/Students in the Field (SC/SF)." During the 2000-01 school year, local educational volunteers, Leigh Parmenter and Katie Quinlan, worked closely with teachers Susan Jensen and Steve Holland to pilot an SC/SF program in the Home Street 6th grade classes - all 184 students! A major focus of the 6th grade state science standards is ecosystems, so the SC/SF pilot project was designed for students to develop an scientific understanding of the environment surrounding one of the local creeks. When LADWP and Jim Tatum graciously offered the SC/SF program access to nearby Bishop Creek, the project was a go.

Jensen and Holland began by introducing students to basic biology and geology of aquatic habitats, growing mosquito fish in small tanks, and learning how streams are altered by geologic forces. Next, Quinlan and Parmenter organized a morning of talks and demonstrations by local scientists in the 6th grade classrooms. This introduced the students to practicing scientists and hopefully conveyed some of the enthusiasm and excitement these scientists have for their work. We are still hearing stories from the students of Dr. John Wehausen strolling down the halls of Home Street with his backpack and a huge bighorn sheep skull and horns.

For an hour, scientists talked about their work with bats, fish, plants, sheep, astronomy, GPS, dendrology and archaeology.

The following day, the students walked to the creek for a half-day of monitoring. For the first session, students moved between monitoring stations to learn about basic water quality characteristics. The students then went on a scavenger hunt for specific biological components of the environment such as "name an animial sound" or "find signs of new plant growth." A California Department of Fish and Game biologist then discussed fish electro-shocking and demonstrated the process to the students in the creek. Finally, with help from the local fish hatchery, the students were able to weigh, measure, and take scale samples from individual fish before releasing them into the creek. Four weeks later the students returned to the creek to measure vegetation characteristics perfoming a green line transect, assess the health of the stream by completing an aquatic inverterbrate survey, and measure the stream flow with digital stream flow meters.

From many comments and reviews, this pilot program was more successful than any of us expected. The teachers were excited to have new hands-on outdoor units that complemented what they were doing in class and provided time to talk about science education with other scientists and coordinators. The scientists appreciated participating in an organized program where they could share with the class in a way that was exciting to the students, fit into a larger project, and was an effective use of their time. The students seemed to enjoy different parts of the program depending on their interests.

We found the coordinators and the community docents they trained to be the backbone of the program. As a result, Quinlan and Parmenter began to develop a docent training workshop and recruit docents from the community. Funding for a small docent per diem was recruited from the Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education (ESICE). This generous support allowed docents to pay for child care, compensate employers for time off, and provided some travel money to each session. The docents were trained by the project coordinators, local scientists, and teachers. During the field exercises, each docent manned one of the monitoring stations, led scavenger hunts, and had a great time with the students on the creek.

For this coming school year, funding has been secured from the California Department of Education, H.N. and Francis B. Berger Foundation, and the ESICE to support not only a repeat of the project at Home Street School but also an expansion of SC/SF to all of the remaining schools in Inyo County. From these initial successes,we hope that the SC/SF program is just the beginning of larger programs that bring our children out of the classroom to explore our special local environment with scientists and interested community members. For any community members who would like to participate in the SC/SF scientists or docents programs, the Education Forum invites you to contact coordinators Katie Quinlan or Leigh Parmenter.