Our third annual Bennett’s Millpond Environmental Learning Project Symposium was a special symposium as our project begins to develop a deeper level of sophistication and organization. This year, our student researchers worked closely with university scientists, local wildlife experts and technical professionals as they collected data for their projects. The collaboration between students and scientists established the importance of professional dialog in science research as our students learned new sampling techniques, used technical field equipment and were trained to make special observations.
Several project ideas have carried through the three years of project involvement with a slightly different focus each year. We now have several years of water quality data and other important data that is helping to build a foundation for some of the extended research projects. For example, the depth profiling data of Bennett’s Millpond became important information for two projects this year. As an example, the thermocline project used the depth information about the millpond to determine sample sites. We are always fortunate to have new students each year that bring new ideas for research projects to widen our view of the millpond environment. As Carl Sagan stated, “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.”
The 2005 Bennett’s Millpond student teams presented their “year-long” research projects to the local citizens and the professional community on April 27th, 2005 at Albemarle Learning Center in Edenton, NC. Colleen Karl introduced the symposium keynote speaker, Judy Day, the HHMI project coordinator from The Science House. The speaker focused her talk on the contributions of the mentoring Millpond teachers to state and national science education initiatives and to programs in their local schools and communities. Without these dedicated and innovative teachers, the Millpond project would not have become such an engaging and community supported program. Robbie Laughton, the director of Parks and Recreation and the chair of the Bennett’s Millpond Committee for Chowan County, shared updates to the ongoing improvements at the Millpond.
Backboards and laminated posters that featured highlights of the student work enhanced the formal presentations. The Millpond teachers, and other groups from the community prepared visual displays on water quality sampling techniques, meteorology, GPS/GIS and recycling for informal learning during the open house that followed the formal symposium. During the open house that followed the formal talks, the students shared their work and demonstrated the project technology equipment such as the Vernier probes for water quality and the Palm m515 units for collecting data, and chemical test kits for water and soil analysis. As in past years, the community’s attendance and interest in the project work continues to excite, inspire, and encourage our student researchers.
Student
Projects (Powerpoint Presentations)
Team
1A Mapping the Floor of Bennett's Millpond
Team
1B Comparison of inorganic soil particles and samples from the Millpond
Team
2A The Effect of Duckweed Matting on Dissolved Oxygen
Team
2B Determining the Presence of a Thermocline within Bennett’s Millpond
Team
3A Soil: The Wonder Of The World
Team
3B The World Beneath Our Feet: A Study in Soil Science
Team
4A The Dietary habits of Bowfin in Bennett’s Millpond
Team
4B Presence of Coliforms in Bennett’s Millpond
Team
5A Comparing Surface and Bottom Dissolved Oxygen
to the Macro Invertebrate Population
Team
5B Protein Fingerprinting Snails
