Created by Grade 7 students at

Williamsburg High School, Williamsburg, PA

Advisor: Rebecca Smith, Art Instructor

STEM+ART=STEAM!Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River Watershed Ecology TV News Program

Our school was given a grant through the Headwaters to Estuaries Program at St. Francis

University to study our watershed and its effect on the Chesapeake Bay.

Educational goals of the grant:

Involve students in project-based learning of real world problems

gain awareness of Chesapeake Bay and watersheds that affect the Bay

incorporate STEM pedagogy through team teaching between the Art and the Science department at WHS

encourage 21st century thinking skills

Essentials for Project-Based Learning

• a need to know

• driving question

• student voice and choice

• 21st century skills

• inquiry and innovation

• feedback and revision

• publicly presented

• from Larmer and Mergendoller, 7 Essentials for Project-Based Learning, 2010

1. a need to know

• what do we know about the river that goes through Williamsburg?

2. driving question

• how healthy is our river, and how does it affect the Chesapeake Bay?

3. student voice

• how do we document what we know about the river?

• students worked in groups to create and film documentaries about leaf pack experiments during their field trip to the river. They were given the freedom to think of their own way to do it.

creative solution

4. 21st Century Thinking Skills

• communication

• non-routine problem solving

• self management

• real world issues

• purposeful design and inquiry

• cultural awareness

• technological literacy

5. Inquiry and innovation

• use STEM to investigate and discover and develop higher level thinking skills

• Science

• Technology

• Engineering

• Math

6. Feedback and revision

• Students worked with groups and teacher to revise and edit TV segments.

click picture to play movie

7. Publicly presented project

• The students presented their news show to the school board at the April meeting. Students made watercolor paintings of the mountains to send as invitations. School board members, administration, parents and siblings were invited.

Our project: Make a TV news program about

our watershed

How did we start?by gathering information and learning about:

water cycle:how does water work?

watershed address:where does our water go?

sources of pollution:what pollution goes into our river?

invited a guest speaker who knows about our watershed

What did we do next?

Jody Wallace from theBlair County Conservation District

came to our school and talked about:

non-point source pollution demonstration

food web game

gyotaku fish printing

click picture to view movie about Jody Wallace

Next step: Field trip to the river

The students divided into groups and wrote a

documentary script about leaf pack experiments.

During the field trip, each group filmed their leaf

pack experiment.

The groups also conducted water tests with Mr.

Imler, the Science teacher.

The students also used nets to look for insects,

fish, and macroinvertebrates in

the river.

The students also looked for plants and

trees in the area.

Final Project: Making a news program

the students used everything that they had learned

Making a news program

Students set up a mock news room and worked in groups to research and write a documentary news segment about watersheds.

News topics:News topics:

•importance of water testingimportance of water testing•food webfood web•non point source pollutionnon point source pollution•water cyclewater cycle•Chesapeake Bay ecologyChesapeake Bay ecology•leaf pack experimentleaf pack experiment•impact of people on watershedimpact of people on watershed

The students wrote, rehearsed, and finally

filmed their news segment with the help of our Tech

Coordinator, Ms. Waddington. They learned

how to use the video equipment and the green

screen.

our movie

This movie was made by the seventh grade Art students at Williamsburg High School, Williamsburg, PA. and

Funded through a grant from NOAA B-WET and facilitated by St. Francis University Science Outreach Center

Advisor: Rebecca Smith, Art Instructor