Our Education Director, Marian Miller, directly engaged 1,023 students and 102 teachers through 52 virtual or in-person programs during the last school year. Students were from 10 communities including Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Somerville, Watertown, Arlington, Wakefield, Woburn and Winchester. All the programs linked real on-the-ground science and restoration happening locally with what the students are learning in school.
Below is a snapshot of some education activities during this last year:
Somerville middle school students enthusiastically mapped storm drains in their neighborhoods, plus completed a virtual trash assessment as part of our Trash Free Mystic. This data will be used by our watershed scientist to help determine the source of litter in our river. AND they chose to pick up trash!
Over five consecutive days, Everett 4th graders learned about stormwater pollution, the engineering process, discussed their ideas and designed ways to improve storm drains in order to reduce pollution – all virtually- in their homes. On the last day, they presented what they had learned through a live zoom presentation to invited guests.
Wilmington High School provided materials to model how natural systems handle storm water for students in the classroom , while Marian Miller demonstrated the project virtually. This is our third year that we have worked with the school.
Beyond direct programming to schools, MyRWA collaborated with the science coordinator in Arlington to create a Mystic-focused stormwater curriculum that every 5th grade teacher was required to use this spring – and for springs to come. Though we have implemented school-wide curriculum integration, this was the first district-wide integration of place-based education to-date. This reached an additional 470 students in year one.
We are lucky to have such great educators in our watershed who care so deeply about connecting their students to science in their backyard and we are so honored to be able to share this work with the students.
Thank you also to funders of the education work including: Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, Boston Scientific Foundation, Cell Signal Technology, Exelon, MathWorks, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Five Star Program, New England Biolabs, Plymouth Rock Foundation, Adelard A. and Valeda Lea Roy Foundation, T.E. Connectivity and Verizon.
