2007-04-26 / Schools

Wachusett watershed comes to the classroom


Tim Rayworth teaches a watershed class at Glenwood Elementary. Joyce Roberts photo Tim Rayworth teaches a watershed class at Glenwood Elementary. Joyce Roberts photo Some 10-year-olds in the region can tell the difference between xylem and phloem. They know which trees love shade, and which love sun. And not only can they identify many fur- and featherbearing creatures thriving in the Wachusett Watershed, they can explain how these creatures came to exist here.

It's all thanks to the Department of Conservation and Recreation's efforts to weave environmental awareness into the public school system. Interpreters have been visiting schools in the Wachusett district for almost 20 years, starting when the DCR was the Metropolitan District Commission.

This year in a program on the Wachusett watershed, DCR interpreters like Sterling native Tim Rayworth are visiting Mayo and Dawson schools in Holden, Glenwood in Rutland, and Thomas Prince in Princeton once a week for two months. (All elementary schools in the region were offered the fourth-grade unit; these four schools signed on.)

The watershed program is an example of place-based learning.

"Studies are fairly conclusive that if you teach kids based on a place - their own place - and use real-world examples, their level of understanding is hugely increased," Rayworth says. "The material is more accessible and more meaningful. Students are able to repeat vocabulary, recite facts, and analyze and interpret data. Plus, teachers can use a local place in cross-curriculum studies."

The Wachusett watershed program consists of lessons, activities and a field trip, making a complete learning experience, according to DCR environmental coordinator Jim Lafley. "We're trying to get away from what we call 'one-shot deals,' " he says. A single lecture on, for example, bald eagle habitats, doesn't have the long-lasting effect and educational value of repeat visits covering several topics under one umbrella theme.

Students learn about the water cycle, the journey of water from the schoolyard to the ocean, and all the stops in between. They learn about the history of the Wachusett Reservoir, and they hike on Wachusett Mountain.

The material fits nicely with the district's science curriculum, says Mayo teacher Jennifer Leith. Other subjects come into play too. In one activity, students map water sources from Unionville Brook to the Atlantic Ocean, learning not only geography but math when they convert inches to miles. Leith's students write in their journals about the watershed.

During a recent visit from Lafley, students constructed a model watershed consisting of a bucket with crumpled newspapers for rocks, a plastic bag for bedrock, and a paper towel for soil. It "rained" in the model, and red food coloring represented pollution, giving students a memorable understanding of where pollution goes.

Later with Rayworth, students focused on the paper towel layer: the soil, and everything that grows there. He read a story about forest succession spanning 200 years. The book, illustrated on a Smartboard, introduced new vocabulary such as "understory," "canopy," and "disturbance."

The main points - that the forest is ever-changing, that old trees die off to create room for new trees, and that new trees bring different plant, animal and bird life to the area - were points the students seemed to grasp easily. When Rayworth broke them up into groups so they could put illustrations from the book in chronological order, they jumped at the task, and many were able to place weeds first, then white pines, then tulip trees and deer, then beeches and hemlocks, then bobcats and turtles.

"The kids get this moment when it clicks for them, and you can see it in their eyes. That's when you know you've made a connection," Rayworth says. "A lot of times I'll hear kids say, 'Oh, I get it.' Moments like that make you want to keep doing this."

When the watershed program first began four years ago, Lafley administered before-and-after tests to determine exactly what students learned, prompting them to define a watershed and explain why the reservoir was built. He found the results impressive: students' basic knowledge of the Wachusett watershed increased by more than 50 percent.

Students also tend to understand the rationale behind decisions DCR has made regarding watershed protection, Lafley says. "The rules make more sense to them. They understand there's a good reason we don't allow swimming, for example."

The program's first two years were funded through The Friends of Wachusett Watershed with help from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, which collects the tax-deductible contributions drivers make when they purchase environmental license plates.

Now DCR-funded, the only expenses schools incurred for the watershed program are busing and substitute teacher fees for the fieldtrips.

"It's important for the students to know how pollution affects their drinking water," Leith says. "Unfortunately, it will be up to them to save the world. When they stand up on top of the mountain, they can usually see Boston, and they can see the reservoir, and they know it's all connected. They know there's only a certain amount of water on earth, and that we need to protect it."

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