Fourth graders at Church Hill Elementary School (CHES) in Queen Anne’s County Public Schools (QACPS) were involved in various learning activities related to the Chesapeake Bay and the Watershed. They learned from Maryland Environmental Services, Sultana Education Foundation, our science and reading books, and other supplementary resources. At the end of the school year, 4th graders chose an area of expertise, put together a presentation, and shared the presentation with each of the four younger grades in the school as part of a guided "Watershed Walk" around the school.
Best Practice 1: Meet a Recognized Need in the Community
Fourth-grade students taught younger students about the importance of the Chesapeake Bay.
Best Practice 2: Achieve Curricular Objectives through Service-Learning
ELit - STANDARD 1 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
The student will investigate and analyze environmental issues ranging from local to global perspectives and develop and implement a local action project that protects, sustains, or enhances the natural environment.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2
Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.4
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
Best Practice 3: Reflect throughout the Service-Learning Experience
At the beginning of the program, students reflected on the importance of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and shared prior knowledge of the Bay. Throughout the year, students participated in discussions to check their understanding of how the watershed has changed and why. They identified threats to the bay and reflected on the role they play. After each lesson in the “Changes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed,” students participated in discussions, notes, and exit slips, to check their understanding. After the plan of action was completed, each student wrote a personal reflection to share what they accomplished and how they helped the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Best Practice 4: Develop Student Responsibility
Students took ownership of their learning and were responsible for each component through exit slips, reflection notes, and participation in class discussions. In the planning and delivery of the presentations, students chose what they wanted to do to make the project a success. Students determined their actions based on their personal strengths - speaking, writing, creating, etc. In this way, students felt more invested in the success of the event, which included a nature walk. For the culminating Watershed Walk project, students were able to choose their area of expertise and worked in groups to plan a presentation for the younger grades.
Best Practice 5: Establish Community Partnerships
Sultana Education Foundation - students went on field trips to learn about oysters, Chesapeake Bay history and its watershed, and the Chester River ecology.
Maryland Environmental Services TERP program - Maryland Environmental Services educators visited CHES to teach about Poplar Island and Diamondback Terrapins.
Best Practice 6: Plan Ahead for Service-Learning
CHES followed the QACPS Environmental Science Curriculum Guide with the unit “Changes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed”. This unit has pieces that are taught throughout the year. We also organized successful field trips to Sultana and Poplar Island to immerse students in the full experience.
Best Practice 7: Equip students with Knowledge & Skills needed for Service
Students practiced their reading, writing, and speaking skills as they completed each phase of the learning. As a result of this project, students also learned how to ask meaningful questions of subject matter experts and community partners. By learning how to interact effectively with a community partner. In future service projects, students will be able to utilize the skill of interacting effectively with a community partner by asking pertinent questions, recording information, summarizing the information, and retelling it. Learning how to effectively find out more information on a topic through dialogue, and then being able to deliver that information to another audience, is a skill that students will need as they support other causes in the future.
St. Mary’s County Public Schools, 2023
Seventh and tenth grade Social Studies and Science students at Margaret Brent Middle School, Leonardtown Middle School, Esperanza Middle School, Spring Ridge Middle School, and Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County completed a direct and advocacy service-learning experience to address local environmental concerns. Students examined land use management practices at the federal, state, and local governmental levels. They learned about efforts to minimize nonpoint source pollutants that are impairing water quality and wetlands and to address the growing concern of invasive plants. Students also advocated to the public about the benefits of using native plants rather than invasive plants and about ways to manage urban runoff.
Best Practice 1: Meet a Recognized Need in the Community
The land use management and planting native plants service-learning project addresses a need to restore the natural habitats within St. Mary’s County and reduce the nonpoint source pollution that adversely affects the local waterways and wetlands. Several factors contribute to increased nonpoint pollutants, such as increased population growth, development, and impervious surfaces. For instance, in St. Mary’s County, the population increased by 8,626 people from 2010 to 2020 based on data compiled by the Census Bureau. The influx of people residing in this county has increased the development of housing communities and local infrastructures, which requires clearing forests and converting farmland to residential lots. The results of these various factors have led to water quality hardships, causing harmful effects on household water supplies, fisheries, and wildlife. The United States Environmental Protection Agency summarized this growing concern in an article stating, “runoff from urban areas is the leading source of impairments for estuaries” and the third leading cause of adverse effects on waterways.
Additionally, this service-learning project recognizes the concern of invasive plants that are rooted and growing in Southern Maryland. The invasive plants are causing harm to the region. Once invasive plants occupy an area, the plants can crowd the native plants and diminish the food supply for animals. Thus, native plants disrupt the food web and native ecosystem.
Best Practice 2: Achieve Curricular Objectives through Service-Learning
The students examined the theme of human-environmental interaction using a case study model. Students also examined social, economic, political, and environmental factors contributing to nonpoint source pollutants and land use management. Additionally, tenth-grade students also investigated and analyzed federal, state, and local initiatives dealing with water quality and development, such as the Clean Water Act, Maryland’s SMART Growth program, and local zoning ordinances.
Best Practice 3: Reflect throughout the Service-Learning Experience
Students engaged in group discussion, brainstorms, and debates on the issue of water quality and urban sprawl. Students also maintained a journal throughout the experience and created a final reflection on the service-learning project, whether written or displayed in some other manner. Displays included scrapbooks, posters, collages, poems, cubes, PowerPoint presentations, or brochures.
Best Practice 4: Develop Student Responsibility
This service-learning project extends from middle school to high school, allowing students to learn responsibility and take ownership of the project. First,students conducted a biological survey that requires them to determine if the area is a wetland area. After collecting the data from their observations, students assessed if the area was a wetland. The seventh graders were also responsible for identifying and classifying native plants as wetlands and non-wetland. These experiences allowed students to conduct an area assessment in order to propose what native plants needed to be added to the wetland area to reduce nonpoint source pollutants.
Another essential component of the service-learning experience was removing invasive plants. Students investigated different types of invasive plants that reside in Southern Maryland. They reviewed the Department of Natural Resources’ Statewide Eyes website. Throughout this investigation, students took on the responsibility of informing others about why it is important to plant native plants and discussed the importance of using native plants to reduce nonpoint source pollutants. These discussions also provided an additional reflection opportunity for students and an opportunity for them to advocate for limiting urban runoff and increasing awareness to improve water quality. In addition, students analyzed the federal, state, and local governments’ land use management policies and compared policies to previous government administrations.
Best Practice 5: Establish Community Partnerships
Club organizations and local government agencies, including St. Mary’s County Master Garden Club and the St. Mary’s County Public Schools Elms Environmental Education Center, were partners in this service-learning experience.
Best Practice 6: Plan Ahead for Service-Learning
To prepare for their advocacy work, students examined the causes of nonpoint source pollutants and described wetland characteristics. This investigative section considered the benefits of using native plants and identifying approaches to curb pollutants to improve water quality for the watershed and surrounding habitat.
Students also examined the development of legislation as well as the environmental movement. This allowed students to analyze the different interest groups that lobby for better water quality and advocate for SMART Growth. Students took on the role of legislatures as they decided to support a housing project and shopping center along the Potomac River. During this instructional exercise, they learned about opportunity costs and addressed their constituents' needs.
From these experiences and processes, students successfully devised a functional plan that met the goals established by the class to plant native plants and increase awareness about the related issues.
Best Practice 7: Equip students with Knowledge & Skills needed for Service
Students learned about their community and land use management issues as they explored nonpoint source pollutants and environmental legislation. In addition, students gained insight into native plants and preserving the wetlands. Students also practiced using literacy skills to acquire information from text and visual sources and practiced public speaking skills. Through these experiences, students became knowledgeable about urban runoff and its effect on people and communities. They learned how active citizens can affect the community and promote change.
Talbot County Public Schools, 2023
Seventh-grade science students at the Easton Middle School partnered with the Pickering Creek Audubon Center throughout the school year on a project to increase biodiversity in Talbot County. Classroom teachers and Pickering Creek Audubon Center educators worked throughout the year to teach a series of lessons in each classroom. Students attended a field trip to the wildlife sanctuary in the spring, and they also participated in a local walking field trip. The 10 in-depth lessons included with this project taught seventh graders about issues that affect the local watershed and how to develop a claim, a goal, and strategies to make a difference.
This year, students chose a stream restoration project at Papermill Branch. The project aimed to restore habitat health by removing invasive plants, reforesting the area, and reshaping the stream channel. The students then build Wood Duck boxes to help support the habitat health of the Wood Duck species.
Best Practice 1: Meet a Recognized Need in the Community
Students worked to create a sustainable environment, allowing the Bay to become a better ecosystem and habitat through the restoration of a local stream channel and building Wood Duck boxes to support their habitat health.
Best Practice 2: Achieve Curricular Objectives through Service-Learning
NGSS Standards:
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience
LS2.D: Biodiversity and Humans
LS4.B Natural Selection
LS4.C: Adaptation
ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
Best Practice 3: Reflect throughout the Service-Learning Experience
The students completed organizers throughout many steps of the year-long projects. These included a course of action plan, action plan organizer, project goals, strategy statement, and a claim, evidence, and reasoning action form.
Best Practice 4: Develop Student Responsibility
For the main project, students formed groups to determine the projects that they felt would be the most important to help increase biodiversity in Talbot County. Research was completed in groups. Students then made a determination on a project and completed a more in-depth research project related to the problem.
Best Practice 5: Establish Community Partnerships
Pickering Creek Audubon Center Volunteers, Residents of Candle Light Cove (Senior Living Community), Project Manager for the Town of Easton assigned to the Papermill Branch Stream Restoration Project, and Easton Middle School administrators were partners in this service-learning experience.
Best Practice 6: Plan Ahead for Service-Learning
This project took a large amount of planning on the part of Pickering Creek Audubon Center and TCPS. It involved professional development sessions for TCPS teachers prior to the school year and prior to lessons to be taught.
2 field trips were planned: a local walking trip, and an Audubon Center trip
School beautification project: involved clearance from school officials and a detailed plan of action presented for approval
Community project: Involved clearance by school officials for students to participate first, followed by clearance by all stakeholders involved
Best Practice 7: Equip students with Knowledge & Skills needed for Service
Students learned about biodiversity through research, videos, PowerPoint presentations, articles, and hands-on experiences.
Contact:
Lauren McKinley, M.Ed.
Service-Learning Specialist, Youth Development Branch
Office: (410) 767-0357
lauren.mckinley@maryland.gov
Reginald Burke, M.S.
Director, Youth Development Branch
Office: (410) 767-0313
reginald.burke@maryland.gov