Dr. Ardith Harle works with Karen Holt to find macroinvertibrates, little animals that thrive in a healthy streambed. They found plenty as they conducted a stream survey — a part of their teacher training at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian. They will take the hands-on activities back to their students in the classroom.
By Mitchelle Stephenson
Originally Published in The Capital on 2/26/2009
Each year, 3,500 county children visit Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary on school-sponsored field trips.
The 1,500-acre site, situated on the Patuxent River, is run by the county department of Recreation and Parks. It is a wildlife sanctuary and education center that borders 5 miles of shoreline and has over 15 miles of hiking trails.
At Jug Bay, students learn about wetlands habitat, the water cycle, and about how the river affects the vitality of the Chesapeake Bay.
On Saturday Elaine Freibele, Jug Bay's education coordinator, put together a full-day training for local teachers so that they could take some of that hands-on science training back into the classroom. The training was based on the curriculum in Project WET.
The Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) resource book is as thick as a city telephone directory. It is filled with classroom lessons and reproducible handouts. Each lesson has a targeted grade level, K through 12. Each lesson plan includes the handouts, classroom experiments, in-the-field lessons and resources for further study.
The Project WET books were given to participants courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The teacher training was provided free of charge by naturalists from Jug Bay and Arlington Echo - a research and education facility run by Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
The Saturday event attracted public and private school teachers from both the primary and secondary levels, as well as a college professor, and home school parents.
The training took all day. During that time, participants reviewed the materials in a classroom setting, spent time in the field doing experiments, and later returned to the classroom to present lessons to one another as practice.
Their "in the field" study involved conducting a stream survey. The Project WET curriculum guided the participants to look for macroinvertibrates.
Elaine told the group, that macroinvertibrates are little animals that can help tell the story of a healthy, or unhealthy, stream.
The students left the classroom and hiked a little ways through a forest trail, then down a steep embankment to a platform alongside a clear-running stream. They had toolkits that contained everyday items - things a teacher could readily (and inexpensively) put together.
The tool kits contained icecube trays, dishpans, magnifying glasses, sieves and small plastic spoons. No fancy or high-tech science equipment seemed necessary. Elaine and the other naturalists had provided laminated cards for identifying some of the macroinvertibrates they might find.
Prior to the training, bags of leaves in a net stocking had been hung from a tree and placed into the streambed.
The students took the leaves out of the netting and dumped them into the dishpan. They then transferred clusters of the wet, dirty leaves into the sieve and used a small plastic spoon to sort through the detritus to find the little critters.
These little animals are visible to the naked eye, but some, like the caddisfly are hard to find because they use the decomposing leaves and sand to make their bodies, almost like a hermit crab might use leftover shells as a home. Initially, they look like rolled up leaves, but after staring at the sieve for a few seconds, you soon realize that the leaves are walking from one side to another.
Linda Eversole, a substitute teacher at Davidsonville Elementary, was in a group that found a half dozen caddisflies in her sample. Susan Matthews, a naturalist at Jug Bay and facilitator of the training, explained that the find was a good indicator that the stream is healthy.
Karen Holt, a second grade teacher at Linthicum Elementary, exclaimed, "I'm macroinvertibrate jealous," of the caddisfly find. Karen's group later found dobsonflies, aquatic worms, and mayflies in their sample.
Karen was glad she came to the training. "I learned a hands-on activity to use to teach my students the water cycle," she said. "The book is a great resource. I love how this can tie into our curriculum about the Chesapeake Bay."
Another participant is a professor of educational studies at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Dr. Ardith Harle trains future teachers. "I'm really impressed with this program, the resources we're taking back are incredible," she said.
Once the participants concluded their study on the stream's health, they headed back to the education center to work on their presentations.
"Hands on science can be intimidating for teachers, but with this program, even a teacher with less experience can do it. It is broken down into manageable pieces." Michelle Daubon said. Michelle is a teacher from Calvert who runs that county's green education department.
Elaine said that Jug Bay offers other programs for teachers and parents who home school. For details, visit www.jugbay.org.
The Lothian Ruritan Club is sponsoring six, $1,000 scholarships for graduating high school seniors in southern Anne Arundel County. Lothian Ruritan member Frank Gouin reports that they've only had a few applications, and they're looking for other students to step forward.
The main criterion for consideration is community service. The student should submit a one-page description of his or her community service work, and a letter of recommendation from an organization in which the community service was performed.
In addition, the student will need to identify their planned field of study, have an overall grade point average of 2.5, provide a sealed copy of their high school transcript, and present a signed authorization from a parent or guardian.
The scholarships are paid directly to any trade school, junior college or college. The deadline for applications is March 11. For more information, contact Bob Hruby, 707 Joshuas Way, Deale, MD 20751, or call 410-867-0744.
Congratulations to eighth-grader Larissa McCormick and seventh-grader Taylor Leigh, who will be representing Southern and Central Middle Schools, respectively, in the county Spelling Bee at Old Mill High School this Saturday . They will meet up with 15 other top spellers from around the county. The winner of the county bee will travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in May.
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