School Programs – Lower Merion Conservancy

We are partnering with Black Rock Middle School as they participate in the “Trout in the Classroom” program. Students have been raising trout from eggs in the classroom and will join us in late spring for a field trip to release their fully grown trout into Darby Creek. We will be visiting students to give an introduction to watershed health, discussing how stormwater runoff impacts freshwater life. Students will learn about the Conservancy’s origins, inspired by Dr. Arthur Wolfe’s concern over declining trout populations.

Lower Merion High School environmental science classes will join us at Mill Creek in the spring to study water quality through chemical testing and macroinvertebrate surveys – a wonderful opportunity to participate in real field work, and also the first field trip for the class since before COVID! As part of our National Fish and Wildlife (NFWF) funded salt study with Villanova University, we will visit Lower Merion High School to introduce the students to the impacts of road salt on our waterways before they start their fieldwork.

Bucks County Learning Cooperative students use the EnviroScape to model stormwater runoff.

Our youngest learners also explored stream health through a hands-on watershed lesson this winter. LMC visited Phoebe Anna Thorne kindergarten where students interacted with our EnviroScape watershed model to see how stormwater runoff carries pollutants to creeks. They also conducted salt-tasting experiments to demonstrate that salt doesn’t disappear once you can no longer see it on the ground, but instead dissolves and lingers. Finally they tested chloride levels on samples of water from Cobbs and Mill creeks. The students absorbed the lesson well and were excited to participate in citizen science!

At the Bucks County Learning Cooperative, high school students are combining self-directed learning with real-world science. After a winter watershed lesson we brought students to nearby Neshaminy Creek to monitor chloride levels. Their enthusiasm has led to ongoing volunteer efforts in salt monitoring during school hours. They are continuing to monitor chloride levels throughout the rest of the school year, to track changes over time.

The Conservancy’s education work is supported by a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection environmental education grant.