For the last seven years, the Bennett’s Millpond Project has been a strong model of Place Based Learning in Northeastern North Carolina. This environmental learning project brings students and teachers together for extended field research at an historic Chowan County millpond. The student researchers learn the science, but also learn the value of natural resources in their local place. A significant number of Millpond Project student graduates are pursuing degrees preparing for a STEM career.

Millpond student testing dissolved oxygen levels with guidance from his teacher.

The Millpond Project supports teacher professional development, emphasizes inquiry as the process of science, and utilizes innovative technologies as the tools of research. Four counties from the Northeast are closely involved with the Millpond Project – the teams are representing Gates, Chowan, Bertie and Perquimans counties. Students and their mentoring teacher journey to the Millpond twice a month to conduct basic water quality testing and identify topics of interest for research. Evaluation of the Millpond Project goals occurs formatively throughout the year through daily interaction, electronic dialog and written updates. As a summary of learning, students present their research work at an annual symposium, compete in regional and state science competitions, share their knowledge of the environment with others in the community and become ambassadors of the natural world.

Bennett’s Millpond Project Goals
• Connect school and community
• Focus on environmental citizenship
• Engage students and teachers in experimental design and research
• Enhance collaborations between schools and the University

Think locally, act globally continues to be a theme for the Northeast office of The Science House. A larger goal of our work in this part of the state is to engage and involve more communities in projects similar to the Millpond Project. Through a SEED grant from the NCSU Office of Extension, Engagement and Economic Development, we have supported Place-Based Learning thought mini-grants to teachers in many Northeastern Counties.

The involved students and teachers celebrated their accomplishments at a May 2009 conference in Edenton, NC entitled Place-Based Learning in a Worldwide Educational Environment. We are actively collaborating with the students and teachers involved in a similar environmental learning project in Transylvania County, NC. The T.I.M.E. project introduces students and teachers to field research opportunities – the teacher leaders from Bennett’s Millpond Project and the T.I.M.E Project worked together to present their perspective on active Place-Based Learning at the National Science Teachers Association conference.

The Science House programming plays a significant professional development role for our involved teachers helping to facilitate their growth towards positions of teacher leadership. Teachers become masters of inquiry pedagogy through their field experiences combined with their involvement as

mentors of student research. They incorporate many of the Millpond Project ideas and structure for conducting experiential science into their North Carolina Standard Course of Study classroom objectives. They share their knowledge with other teachers at their respective schools, and also through electronic discussion.

Colleen Karl, the Northeast Outreach Coordinator for The Science House, conducts local and national workshops about community-based learning, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and inquiry teaching. We partner with many national and state organizations in our K-12 outreach work including the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Rural School and Community Trust, and most recently, the Roanoke-Cashie River Center. The work of the Northeast office is sponsored by The Science House and supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Golden Leaf Foundation,

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