Center NEA member carries out innovative science project with help of NEA grant

Students at Center Middle School in Kansas City engaged in environmental field studies with national research scientists as a part of Missouri NEA member Melinda Merrill’s Students as Scholars Institute.

Merrill, a middle school science and gifted-education teacher, received a $5,000 NEA Student Achievement Grant for her project. Merrill and her partners, Mauranda Douglas, Tyler Osborn, Sara Wickham, implement an interdisciplinary unit on watersheds. Students examine topographical maps, write letters to local companies and government agencies, conduct animal field studies and classifications, collect and graph data, and create a sculpture or mural to encourage recycling. Working with the Blue River Watershed Association, students participate in the Greater Metropolitan Student Scholar Lab, rotating through career explorations and implementing projects based on information collected by scientists in the field. Final project results are disseminated through the student Web site.

The school’s “outdoor lab” borders a nearby creek and has a small tributary on the property. In addition, the wooded area around the school comprises trails and primitive outdoor classrooms. Among the topics students studied that day were water quality, air quality, birds, soil, plants and geology.

For more information on NEA Foundation grants visit www.neafoundation.org/grants.htm.

by Debra Angstead
MNEA communications director