Highlights:
- students also were taking part in World Water Monitoring Day, an annual event designed to signify the importance of becoming involved with water conservation on a local, national and international scale.
- Currently six schools participate in LUMCON’s Bayouside Classroom. The others are South Terrebonne High, Caldwell Middle, Evergreen Junior High and Montegut Middle. All the students, except for those who attend Little Caillou Elementary, are in honors-level science classes. Those students who participate in the curriculum are rewarded with a field trip to LUMCON’s Cocodrie facility during the school year.
- The Bayouside Classroom curriculum requires students to check water quality in their area once a month and record what they observe. The data students collected Thursday included the water’s pH balance, temperature and the amounts of dissolved oxygen and salt. The information will be entered into a Web-site database, which is used by LUMCON scientists as a teaching resource.
MIKA EDWARDS, The Courier, 10/14/05
HOUMA -- With gloves on her hands and goggles over her eyes, 12-year-old Laura Harrington tried to determine the amount of oxygen in the sample of water she scooped from Bayou Terrebonne.
"I think it’s really cool because you get to get out of class and test water pollution," the seventh-grader from Houma Junior High said.
Down the bayou, fifth-grade students from Little Caillou Elementary were busy testing water from Bayou Little Caillou to check that waterway’s quality.
Student Nikki LeBeouf was busy measuring the clarity of the bayou that sits directly across the street from her school.
"I wish we could do this every day," she said. "It’s cool."
Harrington, LeBeouf and their fellow students converged on the two bayous Thursday to put their science lessons to use.
The students participated in Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium’s Bayouside Classroom, a yearlong research-based outdoor curriculum in which students have the chance to study the estuaries and watersheds outside their front doors.
The students also were taking part in World Water Monitoring Day, an annual event designed to signify the importance of becoming involved with water conservation on a local, national and international scale.
Findings from the students’ samples will be posted on LUMCON’s Web site and be used by real scientists monitoring environmental water quality around Terrebonne Parish.
"They don’t get to just see what scientists do, but they are scientists," said Chris Finelli, associate professor at LUMCON.
World Water Monitoring Day, which is Tuesday, began in 2002. This year organizers expect 64 countries to participate by checking the quality of their water in an effort to help aid research and contribute to a global water-quality database.
In an effort to help celebrate the upcoming event, students studying the outdoors were joined by Roberta Savage, executive director of America’s Clean Water Foundation, and Karen Gautreaux, deputy secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality.
In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the two officials wanted to visit Terrebonne Parish where waterways abound.
"We decided to come down here because this place relies on the water," Gautreaux said. "This is an area that saw some impact, and we thought it would be good to draw attention to this activity."
Savage, who traveled from Washington D.C., said he was impressed by how seriously local school administrators take water-quality education.
"The fact that the principals in the area have been willing to go forward with this in the face of everything is phenomenal," she said.
Currently six schools participate in LUMCON’s Bayouside Classroom. The others are South Terrebonne High, Caldwell Middle, Evergreen Junior High and Montegut Middle. All the students, except for those who attend Little Caillou Elementary, are in honors-level science classes. Those students who participate in the curriculum are rewarded with a field trip to LUMCON’s Cocodrie facility during the school year.
"We knew it was not physically possible to bus all of the students in the parish to LUMCON. There are just not enough days," said Paul Johnson, Terrebonne’s science-curriculum specialist.
The Bayouside Classroom curriculum requires students to check water quality in their area once a month and record what they observe. The data students collected Thursday included the water’s pH balance, temperature and the amounts of dissolved oxygen and salt. The information will be entered into a Web-site database, which is used by LUMCON scientists as a teaching resource.
Simonne Lanigan, a fifth-grade teacher at Little Caillou Elementary, has been participating in Bayouside Classroom since the program’s inception five years ago.
"It’s awesome. The kids love it," she said. "It’s great for them to do hands-on science. This affects them and their lives."
David Fox, a marine educator with LUMCON, was impressed with the students’ enthusiasm and their eagerness to understand the importance of water quality.
"They were overwhelmingly excited," he said. "I think they understand better than any other kids in the state what this is about."
Courier staff writer Mika Edwards can be reached at 857-2202 or mika.edwards@houmatoday.com.