A new camp experience will challenge Rochester middle-school students to solve
a problem that water-quality specialists face-and smell!-every summer: Why is
Charlotte Beach closed again, and what can we do about it?
The Get Real! Environmental Action Camp is the brainchild of an assistant professor
at the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the
University of Rochester. In April L. Luehmann's course called Integrating Science
and Technology, graduate students enrich their science knowledge, try new teaching
techniques, and get immediate feedback by working directly with middle-school
youngsters.
The beach at Lake Ontario is this summer's target for both older and younger students.
Assigned groups will pose and investigate a question dealing with the larger issue
of why Charlotte Beach is sometimes unfit for swimming. The Warner students have
been through the exercise once, wearing chest-high waders and using traditional
and high-tech methods to gather and test water specimens. Next week, they will
teach a free, half-day science camp to students entering grades seven through
nine this fall.
"In one week, city students will design their own experiments, use technology,
learn about water quality, and discover how science is important in everyday life,"
says Luehmann. They also will hear about the social and economic impact that the
closing of a public beach can have on a community.
From 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 4 to 8, the group of about 25 will be joined by Dina
Markowitz, a molecular biologist and course co-instructor, who is assistant professor
of environmental medicine and director of the Life Sciences Learning Center at
the University of Rochester Medical Center. At the camp's final session on Aug.
8, city students will present data to guests and community leaders about how to
minimize the closing of the beach and what they can do as citizens to alleviate
pollution.
When day camp is over, Warner students have a final week of class to evaluate
the science unit and reflect on how to improve it.
"This engagement of students in authentic science investigations is a challenging
and powerful teaching strategy advocated by the latest calls for reform in science
education," says Luehmann, a faculty member in the science education program.
Making youngsters a critical part of that curriculum development is equally important,
but often neglected.
In her course, Luehmann has seen many examples of quality scientific research
from her graduate students along with "much thinking about how this experience
can be made meaningful to middle-school students and what is the value of available
technologies."
Daily photographs from the camp and entries describing activities can be seen
on the Warner School Web site at www.rochester.edu/Warner/getreal/.