Eco-Columns: Bringing the Environment Into the Classroom

Funded Sep 13, 2022

My AP Environmental science classroom always comes alive during our Eco-column project. It is by far the most memorable and tangible experience from the class. Students are engaged in ways a textbook or other traditional activities cannot do. They start asking questions and their natural curiosity shines.

The dissolved oxygen meter was a perfect compliment to this project. My students understand that they are using real scientific equipment and take data in earnest, considering factors like accuracy and precision, calibration, and units. They were mostly concerned with the health of their aquatic ecosystem, their pet gambusia mosquito fish, and the rate of photosynthesis being carried out by their elodea plant. We often talk about the day to day tasks of a biologist in different fields, and having the right tools in hand makes it that much more tangible to them. The DO meter has held up and has been enjoyed by three cycles of eco-column projects.

The benefits of this tool cannot be understated. Students compiled the data they gathered and presented it in a symposium style research talk. STEM careers should be as accessible to our equity focused schools as it is to all students. The impact on one class of students is a huge. Years of impact, that is a legacy.”

With gratitude,

Mx. Vargas