Bolster Reservoir Project

The Bolster Reservoir, a defunct water source for the local community, provides my Environmental Science and Natural History students with an ideal outdoor classroom. The old reservoir, located within a few miles of our school, is an overgrown and underutilized piece of city property surrounded by a mixed coniferous/deciduous forest and some areas of open fields. Students in this class have the opportunity to visit the reservoir and plan their own path of study related to the reservoir. They often choose for their projects, topics related to the local flora or fauna, such as wild flowers, trees, animal tracking or amphibians of the reservoir. Students then study, design and produce educational materials that would help other individuals, community members, elementary students, or teachers better understand the natural world and the environment. Students are encouraged to describe how the site may be best managed to maintain the populations that are present. These projects are often in the form of PowerPoint presentations that are made available to teachers in the school district, on compact disc for local libraries or on our school web site. Some of the materials parallel Vermont Natural Resources Guides and may eventually be distributed to teachers along with guide books provided by the state. While developing their projects they also are contributing to an archive of visual images that documents the flora and fauna present at this local landmark. This archive of information and images will not only help future students with their projects, it should also create a historic inventory of the biodiversity at the site. Future classes may also develop plans that may be used to better utilize this biologically interesting site. In the sprit of community service students also take a few minutes out of their day to clean litter and garbage that is left from visitors to this site.
In a climate of prescribed curricula and guided learning curricula, students in this long term project have the chance to select and pursue their own interests related to the reservoir. The role of the teacher in this project changes from instructor into co researcher, advisor and facilitator, a refreshing change for both students and teachers.

Timeline and Description of Student or Program Participants

The students make 3 (1to 3 hour) site visits and work on this project throughout the semester while studying other environmental topics. The initial visit to the site usually involves a decision making period where students can first experience the area and develop their plan. I subsequently meet with pairs of students to help them troubleshoot problems they are having with their work. Many students are actually using digital cameras and PowerPoint software for the first time. The project is completed and assessed at the end of the semester.
The students in Environmental Science and Vermont Natural History class are a mixture of juniors and seniors. The students select this class as a science elective.

Materials and Resources Needed

Resources: Access to natural area with the owner’s approval to study the area.

Materials:
  • Ideally, digital cameras for documentation and collection of images
  • Field guides and identification materials
  • Library
  • Computer access
  • Transportation

Essential Questions

How can students take an active role in educating others in better understanding the natural environment around them? How can we document changes in the ecology and biodiversity of a local landmark?

Rationale

Students don’t often understand or see the biodiversity present in their everyday environment. Students in this project get to become experts in an area of study they choose and in turn become teachers and possibly advocates of biodiversity by presenting their findings to others.

Culminating Activities

Student projects and PowerPoint’s will be distributed to a variety of different individuals via CDROM.
The Bolster archive will be updated and maintained.

Sharing with Staff and Administrator(s)

Materials produced can be shared with the greater school community and faculty and administration can observe the steps of the process occurring in the school.

Addressing Service Learning Best Practices

Curricular Learning Goals

Students will understand the uniqueness of a species and understand the species role in an ecosystem.
Students design, research and produce a project that responds to a community need.
Students contribute to an ongoing source of biological research.
Students make decisions and demonstrate an understanding of some aspect of the natural world around them.
Students communicate that science knowledge to a specific audience.

Learning Standards

This project touches upon and is a vehicle to introduce and address many of the Vermont and National Standards connected to Biological Evolution and the Interdependence of Organisms science content standards.

Assessment of Learning Goals

Formative assessment occurs during the process by collecting and evaluating reflective pieces.
Final projects are assessed. Students are also asked to reflect on their and their partner’s participation in the production of the final project.

Service Goals

Educate the public about the natural resource of the Bolster reservoir and actively involve teenagers as
educators and advocates for the environment. Create a community and scientific image and informational archive of this historic site and resource.

Evaluation

This is a long term project and will require time for some of the projects to become appropriate for public use.
Other projects are ready for distribution.

Challenges

This is not as easy a task for high school students as it might seem. Both technologically and biologically, skills and knowledge need to come together to produce this type of field project.
Decisions need to be made throughout the project. Projects constantly are being modified, edited and eventually evolve into a more finished product

Participation

Students pair up and choose and design their own project. They also select the targeted educational audience.

Diversity

The participants in this class vary from the top students in the school who want to pursue a career in Environmental science, to students that have never been successful in science classes or whose career goals are not science related. The projects and the audiences that the projects are designed to educate will vary from materials for preschoolers to materials that may be of interest to professional Natural Historians.

Community Connections

Hopefully the community will see the potential of this reservoir as an interesting educational site, utilize the materials we produced to learn about nature topics and see students as potential informational resources within our community.

Preparation

Again, students in this class vary from the top students in the school who want to pursue a career in Environmental science to students that have never been successful in science classes, so student preparation needs will also vary from the basics of how to use a digital camera to how to produce a PowerPoint presentation. It is important to utilize students within the class that have some expertise in these areas to help others. Remember that the teacher’s role is one of co-researcher, and one does not have to be an expert in everything. Some of these skills that are learned and performed by seniors for the first time during this project may be very valuable to them in college.

Reflection

When developing your own project there are many times when students need to reflect on the actions that are required to complete and reach their project goals. I guide some of this reflection by asking students to supply me with a list of the steps they need to take to complete the projects and a list of what help they may need from me. I also provide them with a tool to help them reflect on the decision making process that is occurring as they develop and modify their projects. Students discuss and create the tool/rubric used to evaluate the presentations.

Celebration

Students usually enjoy watching each others PowerPoint presentation and usually have a fun time imaging and collecting materials for this project. Students also get a sense of accomplishment when they see their work used by others to learn about Natural History topics.
The Bolster reservoir archive is an impressive 4 season file of nature images from this site. It not only can be used by future high school classes, it can be used as documentation of the biodiversity of Washington County in scientific atlases such as the Vermont Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles, or by school teachers needing images of nature in Vermont.
Natural environments like the Bolster Reservoir hold a myriad of educational opportunities and possibilities. My role as co researcher allows me to experience the same excitement as my students when investigating aspects of the world on which we rarely focus. Their role as researchers and educators allows them to choose their own path and enthusiastically pursue it.