A Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association effort teaches students how to ‘Think globally, act locally.’
By: Steve Rauscher
MONTGOMERY The school district is making use of a novel resource in its environmental science program this year: the environment.
Montgomery has been chosen as the site of a Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association pilot program aimed at teaching students how to live up to the environmental movement’s credo, "Think globally, act locally."
The "River-Friendly Schools" program, focused on the 100 or so juniors and seniors taking the high school’s environmental science course, turns the school and the surrounding environment into a laboratory, said Judith Robinson, program director for the Watershed Association.
Students have so far investigated which fertilizers and pesticides the school uses on its extensive grounds, assessed the pollution content of nearby Rock Brook and visited the Somerset County sewage treatment plant.
"The point is to have the classroom relate to the real world," Ms. Robinson said. "The concept is to have the students see that they really are affecting the environment, so they see that the school is using pesticides that are poisonous, and they find alternatives that they can then suggest to the maintenance crew."
By collecting data about the local environment, students learn the everyday realities of environmental science, and learn that it is often the little things such as calculating heat loss from uninsulated windows or comparing the relative benefits of grass to ground cover such as ivy or pachysandra that comprise local environmental policy.
"It’s an active program to show kids that they have the power to go out and affect the environment," Ms. Robinson said.
Jan Narayan, one of the two environmental science teachers involved in the program, said that students have so far responded to it well.
"It’s more than just studying the textbook and listening to the teacher," she said. "They’re looking at how each of the things they’re learning actually affects them and their community. The kids seem to like it very much."
There are about 100 students taking environmental science now, and Ms. Narayan hopes to see the River-Friendly Schools program expand in the years to come.
"This is an ongoing program. And this is just year one. We intend to keep moving forward," she said.
Future courses will draw on information such as the macroinvertebrate content of local waterways to conduct ongoing analyses of Montgomery’s environmental conditions. The program’s proponents also hope to bring students to local government meetings, so they can see how land-use issues are reconciled with environmental concerns, and eventually perhaps play a role in that process.
"We have to teach the kids the right questions to ask, and instill the critical thinking skills necessary," Ms. Robinson said.
Beyond creating environmentally aware students, however, the program also fits in well with the district’s inquiry-based science initiative, which emphasizes application of scientific method to answer real-life questions.
"I think it ties into that very well," Ms. Narayan said. "It’s got all the elements of critical thinking and problem solving that we’re looking to stress. … So this is a program that we’ve already been doing, just with more frills."