Growing partnership with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection enriches Science-U programming
Thanks to a partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Science-U is fostering a new generation of environmentalists, allowing K–12 students to ask questions and make discoveries about science and their connection to the world around them.
"Grants from the DEP have directly supported several of our camps over the last few years, with the size of the grants growing considerably,” said Science-U director Caitlin Teti. “These funds have allowed us to take more field excursions and to purchase equipment like air and water quality test kits. This means campers can gather real data that we submit to citizen science projects, which makes the experience a lot more authentic.”
Significant improvements have been made to three camps that focus on exploring nature and help campers understand how humans and other animals interact with their environment: the Nature Explorers camp for grades 2–5, the Ecology camp for grades 6–8, and the Eco Expeditions camp for grades 9–12. For example, as part of the Eco Expeditions camp last year, high school campers were able to travel to Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, to explore issues of water quality and human impacts on nature. Campers used new low-cost water monitoring tests, whose purchase was made possible by the grants, to conduct hands-on research in a stream.
One staff member said, “One of the campers told me she liked the stream study better than school because it felt like ‘real science.” In a survey, 94 percent of Eco Expeditions participants agreed or strongly agreed that this camp helped them understand how science is relevant to their lives. This camp and support from the DEP help enable hundreds of campers every summer to gain a newfound or increased love of science and appreciation for the environment.
“We hope our partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection will continue to inspire children each year to take care of their planet,” Teti said. “Campers leave the week with a tool kit full of the information they need to make a positive change in the world.”
