Nahant Marsh CD-ROM Case Inspires Service Learning

This page offers a few of many available resources for extending ATEEC's Nahant Marsh case study into service learning opportunities for students and teachers. This visually stunning and informative case study is part of the Brownfields in a Box CD-ROM, which is available in the Products area of this Web site. The case study may be applied to a variety of disciplines, such as science, math, social studies, communications, the arts, physical education, special education, and technology education. 

Build Floating Wildlife Habitats

Ted Andresen of Florida maintains his Web site to encourage others to build their own floating habitats. Floating habitats give waterfowl and turtles a safe place to feed, nest, or bask in the sun. You can build a float in a few hours for less than $20 in local materials. Plans and building instructions are free on members.aol.com/Tjacmc/index.html. If your school has a wetland in an outdoor education setting, you might investigate these habitat ideas.

Assist Living Lands and Waters

Your school may be one that emphasizes student opportunities to serve while learning. Or your students may take it upon themselves to be of service, as Chad Pregracke did. Chad is a modern-day hero, whose opportunity to learn began in high school and community college close to his treasured Mississippi River. Chad invites you to participate in service opportunities on livinglandsandwaters.org.

Collect Data in the Great American Secchi Dip-In

When the first Secchi Dip-In was proposed in 1994, the Kent State Department of Biological Sciences could only hope the project would make it past one or two years. By 2001 the Secchi Dip-In database had grown to over 14,000 records on more than 4,500 separate water bodies (not including different sites, such as along rivers and estuaries). The Dip-In is one example of volunteer water monitoring opportunities.

"A Secchi disk is an 8-inch (20 cm) disk with alternating black and white quadrants. It is lowered into the water of a lake until it can be no longer seen by the observer. This depth of disappearance, called the Secchi depth, is a measure of the transparency of the water...Transparency is an indicator of the impact of human activity on the land surrounding the lake. If transparency is measured through the season and from year to year, trends in transparency may be observed. Transparency can serve as an early-warning that activities on the land are having an effect on a lake." (Kent State University Department of Biological Sciences, June 2000)  To view data since 1994 and to participate next July, go to dipin.kent.edu .

The Globe Program

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment. GLOBE students make environmental observations at or near their schools and report their data through the Internet. Scientists use GLOBE data in their research and provide feedback to the students to enrich their science education. Global images based on GLOBE student data are displayed on the Web, enabling students and other visitors to visualize the student environmental observations.

For a school to participate in GLOBE, at least one teacher must be trained in the GLOBE science measurement protocols and education activities by attending a GLOBE Teacher Workshop. Read about Globe's achievements, processes, and teacher training at www.globe.gov.

Nahant Marsh - Developing Relevant Questions

Contextual teaching and learning strategies, which ATEEC recommends, include designing problem-based learning for your class. Problem-based learning addresses important questions in the context of the students' community—whether that community is the school, the home, the rural or urban area, or the broader world.

In the Products area of this Web site, you may download for free a pdf file of important questions, which are related to the Nahant Marsh case study but may lead to ideas for students' problem-based learning in their own community. The two-page pdf file shows a series of statements from the Nahant Marsh case with a list of relevant questions after each statement. 

Here is a sample from the "Nahant Marsh - Developing Relevant Questions" file:

Statement: Some wetlands plants naturally absorb lead and other contaminants.
Relevant Questions:

What is known in the scientific community regarding phytoremediation?

What are some real-life phytoremediation projects, and how are they being carried out?

What technologies might phytoremediation replace or supplement?
What are the economics of phytoremediation?

If you were the King or Queen of Phytoremediation, how would you plan to help the world's contaminated waters?

Is it feasible to propose that small artificial wetlands could commonly be a treatment system for urban runoff?

What are the systems by which a marsh cleans itself?

Notes about the photo: An Interstate 280 interchange is partly shown at the top left of the photo. A large aluminum recycling plant is at the top right.  The Nahant Rail Yard is at the bottom. If the photo were extended to show several hundred more feet, you would see the Mississippi River. A stream, which is a bit beyond the water shown on the photo's left side, channels marsh overflow to the Mississippi.