2010 High School Challenge Grant Awardees
Water Quality Assessment in Your Community Program
Water Monitoring
Lynne Stewart
Alma Bryant High School
Irvington, Ala.
Lynne Stewart
Alma Bryant High School
Irvington, Ala.
Through her “Water Quality Assessment in Your Community” course, Lynne Stewart will engage her students in water-quality monitoring projects throughout South Mobile County, Ala. The project will be integrated into her marine biology course through hands-on learning opportunities both in the classroom and outdoors. Students will collect chemical, nutrient, and environmental data, track changes and trends in the data over time, and eventually participate as instructors in field experiences offered to the local community.
Goal: Increase student understanding of watersheds and awareness of water issues, and encourage stewardship.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Increase student understanding of watersheds and awareness of water issues, and encourage stewardship.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Independent Science
Renewable Energy
Raimund Hahn
Fairfield Public Schools
Fairfield, Mont.
Raimund Hahn
Fairfield Public Schools
Fairfield, Mont.
The world population is growing. Additional energy will have to supply the basic needs of life. This challenge will be explored by Raimund Hahn’s classes with a new curriculum he will add to his existing Independent Science class. Hahn plans to develop his students’ knowledge of energy usage and emerging renewable energy sources, encouraging them to think outside the box about ways to supplement the use of traditional fossil fuels. Students in the course will spend time learning about the geology of fossil fuels—both their benefits and consequences—before transitioning to explore renewable energy options, including wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen cell, biodiesel and hydro generation.
Goal: Introduce high school students to the energy issue through hands-on scientific inquiry
Grades Involved: 11-12
Goal: Introduce high school students to the energy issue through hands-on scientific inquiry
Grades Involved: 11-12
Think Like A Scientist
Integrated Pest Management
Mitchell Trembicki
Haverford High School
Havertown, Pennsylvania
Mitchell Trembicki
Haverford High School
Havertown, Pennsylvania
Mitchell Trembicki plans to introduce a new project, “Think Like a Scientist” – a course focused in integrated pest management – into his Ecology and AP Environmental Science classes. In the classroom, he will introduce the basics behind integrated pest management and engage students in actively assessing a Southeastern Pennsylvania apple orchard. Students will perform inspections of the orchard, focusing on pheromone traps and environmental indicators, to develop a body of data. The data will be analyzed by the students, who will use critical thinking to determine the best sustainable practices that can protect the local environment from the pest management on the orchard.
Goal: Increase student understanding of the impacts of pest management on non-point source pollution.
Grades Involved: 10-12
Goal: Increase student understanding of the impacts of pest management on non-point source pollution.
Grades Involved: 10-12
Gardening and Foods
Agriculture
Sada Ganske
Learning Alternatives Community School
Spring Lake Park, Minn.
Sada Ganske
Learning Alternatives Community School
Spring Lake Park, Minn.
Sada Ganske wants to help her students understand the impact their food choices have on the environment. In her “Gardening and Foods” course, Ganske’s students will make these connections by examining the processes food goes through from the time it leaves the farm until it reaches the kitchen table and exposing them to new methods of sustainable organic agricultural methods. To supplement these newly learned concepts, students will also have the opportunity to grow, prepare and eat their own food, and also visit with local farmers who are implementing sustainable practices into their food production.
Goal: Increase student understanding of food production and its environmental impacts.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Increase student understanding of food production and its environmental impacts.
Grades Involved: 9-12
School Outdoor Work Space
Prairie Ecosystems
Scott McCreary
Lincoln-Way North High School
Frankfort, Ill.
Scott McCreary
Lincoln-Way North High School
Frankfort, Ill.
Students at Lincoln-Way North High School live and learn in an area dominated by natural plant communities, but Scott McCreary finds that most students view these unique species simply as “weeds.” McCreary will educate his students on the natural beauty found in their own backyards by developing an outdoor prairie space on the school’s campus, grown with all native species. This space will aid as an interactive learning tool, to supplement concepts taught in ecology and biology classrooms, providing students the opportunity to learn first hand about the incredible biodiversity and intricate balances that can be found in a prairie ecosystem.
Goal: Connect students with their local ecosystem.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Connect students with their local ecosystem.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Aeroponics II
Aeroponic gardening
Remy Dou
Miami Christian School
Miami, Fla.
Remy Dou
Miami Christian School
Miami, Fla.
Food production is something we all rely on and Remy Dou hopes to educate his students on the subject, particularly the integration modern technological research into agriculture. Dou will introduce a course on “aeroponics” — the process of growing plants in an air and mist environment — that will allow his students to experiment with this type of plant growth, and compare the results to other agricultural processes. Students will then be able to use their understanding of different agricultural processes to think critically about potential solutions to modern agricultural problems such as overuse of pesticides, deforestation, water waste and desertification.
Goal: Understanding of modern agricultural processes and challenges.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Understanding of modern agricultural processes and challenges.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Native Ecology
James Lorenz
Nawayee Center School
Minneapolis, Minn.
A Lakota phrase, “lakol wicohan,” means ‘living with the land,” recognizing that humans are part of the land and environment rather than independent of it. Despite the fact that all of his students are Native American in descent, James Lorenz finds that they suffer from separation from nature and the earth as much as most city dwellers do. James will be implementing a Native Ecology course that will combine an understanding of local ecology and natural resources, gained from learning opportunities both in the classroom and outdoors, with traditional Native American teachings and attitudes towards the environment taught by knowledgeable members of students’ various tribes.
Goal: Connect students with their environment through traditional cultural teachings.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Connect students with their environment through traditional cultural teachings.
Grades Involved: 9-12
The Politics of Food
Agriculture
Tom McKenna
Portland YouthBuilders
Portland, Ore.
Tom McKenna
Portland YouthBuilders
Portland, Ore.
Tom McKenna wants educate his students about the impact food they eat —including their health, the environment and their communities. McKenna will guide his students in designing, constructing and managing a garden that will serve as a living classroom to supplement indoor class lessons on the history and evolution of agriculture, the impact of globalization on patterns of food consumption and poverty, as well as environmental degradation and methods of sustainability. The garden itself will not only present opportunities for hands-on outdoor learning, it will also encourage course participants to eat locally and organically and during the growing season will provide the students, all of whom qualify for free/reduced lunch, with fresh produce.
Goal: Connect students with food production and encourage healthy eating habits.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Connect students with food production and encourage healthy eating habits.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Environmental Science
Environmental management through GIS
Joe Waters
Princeton Public School K-12
Princeton, Wis.
Joe Waters
Princeton Public School K-12
Princeton, Wis.
Princeton Public School students are fortunate to have a 240-acre forest property for a variety of activities. Joe Waters wants to further incorporate the forest into his classroom as a teaching tool that offers his students outdoor learning on a consistent basis. Waters plans to have students in Environmental Science classes utilize GPS and GIS technologies collect forest data — on trees, soil, water, plants and animals — and use this data to paint a picture of the current state of the forest and make recommendations for the future use and management of the school’s unique resource.
Goal: Increase student understanding of the role of technology in environmental management.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Environmental Discovery Projects
Michael B. Sustin
West Geauga Local Schools
Chesterland, Ohio
Michael Sustin’s course, Environmental Discovery Projects, will engage his students in several interactive activities. While there are a wide variety of activities – from rain gardens to monitoring local endangered species to the impact of loss of native wildlife habitats and sustainability initiatives – all seek to help students appreciate and adopt environmentally responsible behaviors beyond the school walls. The projects will be interdisciplinary in scope, employing math, language arts, technology, social studies and science skills while providing participants will real-world experiences.
Goal: Provide students the tools to confront local environmental issues.
Grades Involved: 9-12
Goal: Provide students the tools to confront local environmental issues.
Grades Involved: 9-12
