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June 10, 2010

四色AV faculty teach oil spill impact and other real world science experiences

The unofficial start of summer has only just begun; yet Barbara Gombossy, a seventh-grade science teacher at Morehouse Jr. High, can鈥檛 wait to return to school.

She and numerous other northeast Louisiana parish teachers converged on the University of Louisiana at Monroe campus for a two-week workshop to learn science skills that will eventually reverberate for the thousands of students they regularly teach.

Gombossy expressed her enthusiasm for the project because the concepts the teachers are learning this summer are helping them make connections that will, in turn, help them help their students this fall.

Administrators and middle school students joined the teachers and 四色AV faculty and staff at Restoration Park in West Monroe on Thursday morning, June 10, for the culmination of the two-week workshop titled, 鈥淥ut Standing in the Field: Real World Science for Middle School.鈥�

Gombossy said the real-world, hands-on research experiences she had acquired over the past two weeks infused her own understanding of key scientific issues that would help 鈥渇ill-in the gaps鈥� of the comprehensive curriculum she teaches her students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like putting on a new coat of paint,鈥� said Gombossy, of her training. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 ready to take it cruising.鈥�

Made possible through a $125,0000 LaSIP grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents, the project affects middle school students, teachers and administrators from 17 different schools from across the region.

四色AV faculty and others used the natural setting of Restoration Park on Thursday to teach several hands-on lessons to the assembled teachers.

Perhaps no research lesson the teachers acquired on Thursday has dominated the news as much as learning of the oil spill鈥檚 direct and indirect impact on Louisiana.

Under the tutelage of Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee, the participants were taught how to fill a tub with tap water and then combine vegetable oil and cocoa powder to simulate oil entering the Gulf Coast. The demonstration used a variety of material to show how hard it is for scientists to adequately clean the affected environment.

鈥淲hile putting the right material in the ocean definitely matters, it is even more important to replace it often,鈥� explained Bhattacharjee. 鈥淥therwise, the material becomes soaked with oil and eventually re-enters the environment, which defeats the purpose.鈥�

Bhattacharjee explained the impact of an oil spill on typical flora of the region. He held up a vial that contained a wilted, oil-soaked species of plant common to the wetlands, and compared it to the thriving condition of the same plant in pure water.

鈥淭he oil is literally suffocating the plants,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or a time it was thought that wetlands were wastelands. Now we know they are anything but that.鈥�

Teachers also learned the role of Restoration Park and how it acts like a filter removing non-point source pollution, as well as how to use a camera and a GPS to collect data, among other research tools.

In addition to Restoration Park, the project鈥檚 funding immersed middle school science teachers in scientific data-gathering activities at three other local research sites this summer: Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Poverty Point State Historic Site, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe Museum of Natural History.

四色AV faculty members Lynn Clark, Ava Pugh, Stringer, Joydeep Bhattacharjee, and Monroe City School Science Coordinator Joyce Tate shared the cross-disciplinary endeavor with faculty from the College of Education and Human Development (department of curriculum and instruction) and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Monroe City School System.

The project also assists teachers in utilizing local opportunities to better teach the state鈥檚 grade level expectations in science, and equips them with resources after they return to school.

鈥淭his project is something I never would have dreamed would be available,鈥� said Gombossy. 鈥淚鈥檓 just sorry I can鈥檛 go back to school Monday and start working on it.鈥�

The two-week workshop participants received support from 20 local businesses, which supplied food and other materials. Pugh said that because many of the research sites were remote, this support allowed teachers to spend entire days out in the field.

A catered lunch was provided at the June 10 event for all participants and the press.

The project鈥檚 business partners include:

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