Hadfield, WCTC Students Explore Fox River in Waukesha Park

Drizzling rain and cold didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Hadfield third graders during their fieldtrip to the Wednesday.

The children were at the sanctuary as part of the ’s environmental education program, which serves kindergarten through eighth grade and some high school classes.

And while the fieldtrip is a well-known staple of the district’s environmental education program, new this year was collaboration from students in Waukesha County Technical College’s two-year instructional assistant program.

The WCTC students were there to guide the children but also experience and observe how the third graders learned about the environment.

Tucked up against the river near the busy intersection of Prairie and College avenues, the area where the environmental education activities take place provides a surprisingly peaceful river oasis in the middle of the city.

The third graders, however, seemed immune to the peaceful aspects as they got ready to seine the river for fish, crawfish and other creatures. First, though, some instruction was required about using the seine net and the mechanics of wading in the river.

“First, and this is very important, keep the river below the height of your boots,” instructed Karen Vaklyes, an assistant with the environmental education program. She held her hand next to her boot to show the children how deep to wade but the warning later went unheeded by many as they ventured into the cold but shallow water.

“If you don’t think you see anything that’s alive, examine the netting. If there are any little critters clinging to the netting, pick it out and put it in the pan,” she also told the students, prompting an “Eeww!” from one little girl.

The third graders learned about the food chain and consumers and producers. They learned that the number of “critters” or evidence of the critters can be found by seining the river – cadis fly larvae, crawfish, water skimmers, minnows, snail shells and others. The amount of different species that can be found indicate the health of the river, Vaklyes said.

“I ask the kids, if there were only crawfish, would that be a healthy river?” she said. “No, they would just eat each other and there wouldn’t be anything left.”

In addition to seining, one activity had children creating their own critter using puzzle-pieces of body parts and thinking about where it would fall in the food chain, its habitat and environment.

A favorite activity was looking at the captured fish, insects and microscopic animals through a microscope as the children investigated their finds.

WCTC students learn too

The children weren’t the only ones learning something, though. The WCTC students were there to apply things they’ve been learning in the classroom about teaching.

The college students have been learning techniques in teaching science, WCTC instructor Sue Koprowski said. They have learned the standards in Wisconsin regarding science content and now are focusing on how children learn. They’ve been learning about processing skills, particularly inquiry, how children investigate and learn about their world. Hands-on experience is important for children’s learning about science.

“It’s as they say, ’Hands on, mind on,’” Koprowski said.

Parent volunteers helped the children with the activities, too. Some were in the cold water for the whole time and many were wet themselves.

“Being a mom here is an occupational hazard,” one said, laughing.

Environmental education program builds awareness

The goals of the district’s environmental education program are for students to develop awareness about the environment, gain knowledge about the environment, develop environmental ethic, develop skills and lastly, put their environmental learning into action, according to new program director Ben Hunsanger. The program works as a hands-on extension of what the children learn in the classroom about the environment.

As part of the environmental education program, students in third, fifth, seventh and eighth grade visit the Fox River Sanctuary; kindergarteners and second graders visit EB Shurts; fourth graders go to Lapham Peak; and sixth graders participate in a day program at Camp Whitcomb. Recently, high school students from an AP biology class at South visited the Fox River Sanctuary for research, Hunsanger said.

One initiative in the district is to keep environmental education but to add in project-based and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) methodology. With its focus on hands-on, project-based learning, the incorporation of STEM aspects into environmental education may be a natural fit.

In fact, in 2012, the theme of the April environmental education week is “The Greening of STEM,” according to Hunsanger.