Award-Winning Program Teaches Students about Environment 2/3/05

WICHITA, Kan. – One of the most popular environmental science lessons Kathy Peavey teaches her middle school students is also one of the messiest.

Peavey, a teacher at Hadley Middle School in Wichita, said her students particularly enjoy a lesson in which they learn about cleaning up an oil spill from a tanker.

“They are to create a seagull from a pipe cleaner, and it’s interesting how upset they become when their seagull becomes saturated with oil and sinks to the bottom of their ‘ocean.’ They really take ownership in the activity,” said Peavey, who uses the Earth Awareness Researchers for Tomorrow’s Habitat (EARTH) program as she teaches environmental science to her students. She has used the program for five years.

Facts and Figures About the
K-State Research and Extension EARTH Program

WICHITA, Kan.– In 1998, a focus group was formed to address a lack of adequate middle school environmental education material in Sedgwick County. Based on the group’s recommendations, Earth Awareness Researchers for Tomorrow’s Habitat (EARTH) was created to respond to the shortfall. The hands-on program, administered by Kansas State University Research and Extension, provides curriculum, supplies, a student workshop, and teacher training focused on empowering students with skills and knowledge to take appropriate action in areas of environmental protection.

Following are facts about the EARTH Program:

* Used by 47 teachers in six counties in 2004-2005 school year (Sedgwick, Butler, Kingman, Franklin, Harvey and Miami) and the Smoky Hill/Kanopolis Watershed area.

* Used by 2,887 students, from 6th grade to high school, with the majority in 6th-8th grades.

* Modeled after the award-winning “earth wellness” program in Lincoln, Neb.

* Primarily funded by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-319) grants through an agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, K-State Research and Extension and Kansas Center for Agriculture Resources and the Environment (KCARE). Other organizations have also provided funding.

* Received several awards including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Pollution Prevention Award 2000; National Association of Extension 4-H Agents Communicator Award 2000; National 4-H Council of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Power of Youth: Programs of Excellence 2001 award; and the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents’ 2002 Natural Resources/Environmental Team Award.

* Coordinator is Tonya Bronleewe, who graduated in 1999 from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan. with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology and International Studies.

For more information on the EARTH program, interested persons can contact their county Extension office or visit the Web site: http://www.earthkansas.org.

The EARTH program, which grew from a gap in environmental education identified in Sedgwick County middle schools several years ago, has grown into an award-winning program that serves almost 3,000 Kansas students in seven counties.

The number is growing by the year for the program, which has won several awards, including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Pollution Prevention Award 2000. The program is coordinated and administered by Kansas State University Research and Extension.

“From our first breath, we are connected to the natural world,” said Tonya Bronleewe, EARTH program coordinator with the Sedgwick County K-State Research and Extension office. “Each person needs clean air, water, food, and shelter from the world around us. Without protection, these resources can become polluted or destroyed. Unfortunately, schools often do not have the resources or time to plan effective, educational, and fun programs that teach young people about environmental issues.”

The program is used by 47 teachers in several Kansas counties, including Sedgwick; Butler; Kingman; Franklin; Harvey; and Miami, and by nine teachers in the Smoky Hill/Kanopolis Lake Watershed area.

Participating teachers attend training where they are given a copy of the EARTH curriculum and an activity kit that contains all of the supplies needed to complete 26 lessons. The kits are filled with $500 worth of materials – an invaluable resource to teachers on limited budgets, Bronleewe said.

Coleman Middle School teacher David Clark, in Wichita agreed, saying the materials are particularly important given cuts in teachers’ budgets and limited education funding.

The curriculum is built around four major themes: soil, water, air and living resources.

“Since research shows that 90 percent of students will remember what they see, hear, and do, all activities are hands on. The lessons satisfy Kansas Science Standards and are designed to help students increase their capacity for critical thinking and problem solving,” Bronleewe said.

EARTH participants attend a student workshop in the spring, where they take part in interactive sessions with local environmental experts who discuss real-world applications to the in-class lessons they’ve worked on through the year. The seminar topics are diverse, including worm farming; edible aquifers; Native American dancers; city planning; reptiles, insects; birds, water; air jeopardy; and a migration simulation.

Clark said that one of the more fun activities is when students create their own water cycle models. They incorporate ideas from the Internet and come up with a variety of models, on which they make a presentation to the class.

“Definitely the hands-on aspect,” said Peavey, when asked about the best part of the program. “Students are encouraged to come up with questions, and then test them out with activities. All the content relates directly with the school curriculum and standards, so it is what I am already teaching. This is an extension that students can relate with real life issues.”

“Kids love to use their hands, set up experiments, make predictions and try out their hypotheses,” Bronleewe said. In the “Soil as a Filter” lesson, they compare filtration rates and effectiveness of potting soil and sand. They set up one filter with sand and another with soil, then filter regular water, water tinted with food coloring, and water mixed with vegetable oil through them. They compare how well the water and ‘pollutants’ are filtered and predict how it affects groundwater and drinking water.

In “Values on the Line,” students answer from one to 10, how much they agree or disagree with a value statement and then discuss and defend their views with other students in the class. Statements include, ‘The world’s natural resources (trees, coal, oil, fish, plants, land, rivers, etc.) exist for people to use. Preserving these resources is a luxury we often cannot afford.’

“This makes for pretty interesting, entertaining and sometimes heated discussions,” Bronleewe said.

“Soon, these young people will be the policy makers, business persons, farmers and scientists whose job it is to deal with environmental issues our generation will be passing on, like water quality and quantity problems, air pollution, soil erosion, greenhouse effect, and dependence on nonrenewable resources,” she said. “My hope is that we can promote knowledge and awareness in our youth as a way of protecting the environment now and in the future.”

For more information on the EARTH program, interested persons can contact their county Extension office or visit the Web site: http://www.earthkansas.org.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.