Real Science Connects Local Students

Americorps* Watershed Stewards Members promote watershed awareness in kindergarten though twelfth grade classrooms by developing and presenting one day to six-week long environmental curricula in local schools.  Sara and Justin have spent the last few months teaching the Real Science educational curriculum in Eureka, Hydesville, and Redway.  The six week long courses begin with understanding a watershed and investigate how the choices people and communities make can affect our environment.  Later classes cover habitat, salmon life-cycle, salmon anatomy, and human impacts.  A highlight for all ages is the dissection of an adult salmon donated from Pacific Lumber's Anadromous Fish Museum. 

Many of the classes are also raising salmon through a local program called Salmon in the Classroom.  Though this program, schools are given incubators and salmon eggs which they raise and watch grow through the spring.  In May, the students will release the salmon fry into local creeks and wish them luck on their journey to the ocean. 

The combination of these two programs gives local kids the chance to investigate their local eco-systems and develop an understanding and appreciation for the environment.  Our hope is that through education and hands on experience, these students will become lifelong advocates for environmental conservation.