1The project is part of a new educational partnership among the school, the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center and the Massachusetts Audubon Society.
The Heritage Center recently received a $65,000 New England Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support a three-year partnership among the organizations. The grant funds an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning for students in kindergarten through grade 12.
Each of the middle school's seventh-grade students will participate in Watershed Investigations, an interdisciplinary program that combines classroom activities with field work. During this program, students and teachers will work with Heritage Center and Audubon staff to establish sustainable water quality and invasive species monitoring programs in two local watershed habitats.
The program started earlier this week with prep work in the classroom in advance of field work planned for yesterday and today.
Seventh-grade science teacher Bob Allia is the school's chief collaborator for the program.
"This year we got an exciting new grant that lets us do this (research) in style," Allia said yesterday. "We had to do it on a budget last year."
Students will research and monitor the impact of two ecosystem stressors — the invasive species and water quality degradation — on two local habitats, Gloucester Harbor and the Saratoga Creek salt marsh in Rockport.
"We're excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Rockport Middle School and Mass. Audubon," said Mary Kay Taylor, education director at the Heritage Center. "We're eager to explore the local watershed with Rockport students and we hope that through this program students will connect with the local marine environment and be motivated to protect it."
Watershed Investigations also includes funding to support an after school program for students in the school's Science Club. Students will have the opportunity to design, build and operate their own remotely-operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) in the Heritage Center's boatshop.
Students will then build and test sensor suites to be mounted on their ROVs to collect water conductivity, temperature and depth readings.
The ROVs will be used during the spring site visit to the Heritage Center to collect water for sampling, and to explore the habitat and record the growth of invasive species.
Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.
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