OUR GEM: Local students find excitement with hands-on science
Photo courtesy of Our Gem.
It’s a cool fall morning and I’m standing at the intersection of Burnt Cabin and Ohio Match roads waiting for a busload of Venture Academy students to arrive. While I wait here with my colleagues, travelers stop and ask why we have dozens of pairs of rubber boots lined up next to our vehicles. We tell them about the incoming students and the work they are about to do and they head down the road with smiles on their faces.
It may sound strange to expect teenagers to show up at this juncture in the Coeur d’Alene National Forest, but it’s perfectly natural. It’s natural because we are waiting in the forest for the Venture bus so we, the Confluence Project instructors, can walk these young scientists through the water quality field experience. I’ve been all over the Idaho Panhandle with several dedicated volunteers in the last month, teaching water quality lessons to high school students. The Confluence Project advisers and volunteers are helping these students understand how to test the water quality. Using scientific tools, the water bodies are examined to determine the habitat conditions and overall health for aquatic species (not for drinking water purposes).
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