Using the trash-filled Los Angeles River to teach about marine life and science
Cater Lee Swartzlander | 12-23-2009 | Comments |
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Fernando Valencia lives in South Los Angeles, but the seventh grader has never actually seen the Los Angeles River, despite the fact that it provides drainage for hundreds of square miles of the city.
Fernando says he does care about the environment, however, so he wants to hear a scientist explain how plastic waste that winds up floating in the LA River affects the Pacific Ocean.
He says he doesn’t understand why his friends won’t walk “five feet to a trash can to throw stuff away instead of just leaving it on the ground or in the street.”
In this throwaway culture, how do you inspire students in litter-filled, concrete jungles to care about science and the world around them? Take them outside and give them a glimpse of the natural environment in their own backyard.
That is the goal of “Target Science,” a program developed by the Los Angeles Education Partnership. The program’s other goal: to train teachers to do scientific research, so they can introduce students in low-income schools to leading-edge science.
Using trash to teach science
This fall, dozens of LAUSD teachers collected water samples from the Los Angeles River in a focus on field investigations in environmental science. Then on December 14, they gathered at the LA River Center to hear a presentation on the impact of plastic waste that leaves the coastal watershed and drains into the Pacific Ocean. Marcus Eriksen, a scientist with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, has spent the last decade collecting samples from what he describes as the “plastic garbage patch” that lies halfway between Los Angeles and Hawaii.
Eriksen showed his teacher-filled audience a small sample taken from the “thin plastic soup on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.” One small bottle contained hundreds of tiny plastic micro-fragments, that fish and birds often ingest, mistaking the plastic fragments for plankton.
Eriksen is hoping that by sharing scientific research with teachers, they will in turn help children become “ambassadors for the planet, changing their neighborhoods and their culture.”
He laments the fact that the United States is such a low-performing nation in science achievement. Getting the kids outside to do hands-on science research is critical, he says, to making it real for them.
The Target Science program aims to do just that, getting teachers and children out into their backyards to gather data and take it back to the classroom.
Improving science instruction
“Teachers who have the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and engage in hands-on research by working alongside scientists in the field gain a better understanding of how to help their students understand scientific subjects,” says Julia Rankin Morandi, director of Target Science.
She cites the No Child Left Behind Act, the education legislation passed by the Bush administration, as a primary reason that the science curriculum has suffered. With math and language arts tested heavily, she says science is considered a low priority in schools.
Fernando Valencia’s eyes widened as he studied the sample bottle of ocean water filled with plastic micro-fragments. He listened attentively to Dr. Eriksen explain his research, and marveled at the connection between his South Los Angeles neighborhood and the planet at large.
“We need to make a change,” Valencia said, “because I love the ocean and I don’t want to swim in plastic garbage.”
Tags: algalita marine research foundation los angeles river los angeles river center south los angeles target science