The purpose of Education Through Exploration is to get teachers and students involved in their community and providing a service that will help secure the economic and ecological future of our freshwater resources. This project connects teachers and students to professional scientist to complete real research. Imagine groups of research teams, made-up of students, standing on the banks of the Thunder Bay River or on the stern of a NOAA research vessel, learning, searching, and collecting data. We have built a vast support network of community agencies and professional scientists which includes USF&W, MDNR, UW-Milwaukee Great Lakes Water Institute, NOAA, The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, MSU, COSEE, and Sea Grant. This is an adventure that takes students on a journey of learning.

Problem

Michigan’s freshwater is under invasion from hundreds of invasive species and every seven months a new invasive species is introduced to the watershed by ocean going vessels. Currently there are one hundred fifty-eight invasive species in the Great Lakes watershed, but nothing has been more costly to the Great Lakes and our local freshwater resources than zebra and quagga mussels. On average, they have cost our local coastal areas fourteen million dollars a year in lost tourisms and fishery resources. This watershed project was created and developed by students wanting to preserve their local freshwater resources and it has grown to involve a long list of classrooms, community partners, and regional networks. Our research is focused on understanding how these invasive species are changing our freshwater ecosystems and how we can contribute to a solution for the future preservation of our freshwater resources. Thunder Bay River Watershed Project is a time series research project that is monitoring the ecological health of the Thunder Bay River. Through our monitoring and testing, we warehouse our data to share with partnering teachers and community partners. We use this data to compare data to previously collected data and look for discrepancies. Once students identify an area or problem they want to investigate, we launch a full scale inquiry based research project. We are working to expand the Thunder Bay River Watershed Project to help support and involve more teachers and students in the development of freshwater stewardship projects. Also, working with area community environmental agencies, we are developing more reliable and accurate data that provides a great community impact. The purpose of this projectl is to get other teachers involved and more students in the field taking an active role in their community and providing a service that will help secure the economic and ecological future of our freshwater resources. Through this project we want students to become pro-active learners developing more confidence in their abilities and readily seek new knowledge. Providing student experiences, which allow them to gain new knowledge and skills, and can demonstrate those gains through tests, community presentations, and written forms of assessment. We want to provide a positive education experience for parents to participate in classroom activities to support and encourage their children's academic achievement. Also, we are supporting teachers to focus on connecting the classroom to the community and encouraging teachers to tap into the rich community resources to deliver a more diverse educational experience to their students.

Solution

Our project began with one teacher, twenty-four students and a few community partners. Our success has allowed our project to grow to twenty-two teachers, seven hundred-fifty students, and thirty-five community partners. Our project has supplied training, materials, and transportation for: Rodger City Public School, Hillman Public Schools, Atlanta Public Schools, Alcona Public Schools, Bingham Arts Academy, All-Saints Catholic School, and Alpena Public Schools. Our community partners range across the country from Massachusetts Syntactic Foam Inc. to California’s Marine Advanced Training Education Center. We are making life changing impacts on our students. We are at the point that we have community partners such as the Alpena Fisheries Research Station coming to us to help with collecting research data. The Thunder Bay River Watershed Project is even giving back to the community in the role of being a community partner in contributing underwater research equipment to the local education service district to help support their Underwater Archeology Summer Program. Our project is not only sustaining itself and having a direct impact on students and the community, but we have now come full circle in becoming a community partner for other educational projects. But the greatest benefit of connecting stewardship to the classroom is getting the students outside and they start thinking for themselves. Students begin to see school as an opportunity and not just something you have to get through.

Example

The Education Trough Exploration is a student lead research project that is part of the Thunder Bay River Watershed Project. The Thunder Bay River Watershed Project (TBRWSP) was created and developed by students wanting to preserve their local freshwater resources. The Project goal is to support, sustain, and secure the ecological and economic health of our fresh water resources. This also includes research focused on understanding how invasive species are changing our local freshwater ecosystem and research focused on conserving and preserving our local freshwater resources. The project is a research initiative created from former research projects support by the Thunder Bay River Watershed Project. It is the culmination of three years of student lead research that will go above and beyond what can be supported by the TBRWSP. The TBRWSP is currently supporting teachers from Alpena Public Schools, Alcona Public Schools, Atlanta Public Schools, and Hillman Public Schools to collect data on the Thunder Bay River to support student led research and collaborating community research groups. Through the monitoring and testing, the TBRSWP collects and compare data to previously collected data and looks for discrepancies. Once students identify an area or problem they want to investigate, students launch a full scale inquiry based research project. The Thunder Bay River Watershed Project is a tribute to the students that had the drive to create a science project that was more than a simple classroom activity. It is the reflection of the students' interest in understanding the world around them and contributing back to the community. A new investigation, Natives Strike Back is currently being launched that is being developed from the data that has been collected over the past three years. Collaborating with the Alpena Fisheries Research Station and the USF&W Service, this year's research teams are investigating the loss of nutrients in the Thunder Bay River and how invasive species such as zebra mussels and rusty crayfish are playing a role in stopping valuable nutrients from traveling up the food chain. The TBRWSP will investigate how the community as a whole can contribute to helping native species fight back against invasive species that siphon nutrients from our local fresh water and rob the necessary energy to support local fish populations. The results are a loss of natural resources and the loss of a renewable economic resource for our community.

Marketplace

I don't believe we have ayone gorup in our area that would be considered a competitors. Our growth depends on our teacher involvement. The more teachers we involve the more students were are educating. The focus is on founding and sustainablity. Our first step in showing sustainability is by increasing teacher recruitment and professional development. Working with our community partners, we have scheduled and funded six professional workshops and team meetings over the next two years. By having this element in place, we can use it to prove sustainability that will help us secure grants for test equipment and consumables. This shows a commitment and provides evidence that the project is growing and sustaining itself. Secondly, by showing the commitment that our community partners have for the students in our project and that our students are producing a service that is useful to the community, we can convince funding agencies that we are worth the investment. You cannot sustain a project that doesn’t have a purpose to the greater good of the community. Our success in sustaining our project has come through fulfilling our promises to our community partners and showing up ready to get something done. Our willingness to be open and fluent to our community stewardship needs has allowed our project to evolve. By maintaining growth, commitment, and filling a community need, we can prove our project is a worthy investment.