BPS Second Graders Tackle Beach Erosion on Plum Island April 26, 2019
Posted by Sean Musselman in Science Center.Tags: earth science, erosion, field trips, Grade 2, mass audubon, news
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As a part of all BPS second graders new “Earth’s Changing Surface” units, students have been exploring how wind and water change our Earth’s surface and investigating engineered solutions. Solutions such as beach grass and sea walls are commonly found along the U.S. coastline and play a particularly important role for the residents of Plum Island in Newburyport.
To act on our student learning and support Plum Island’s population of both people and wildlife, second graders from all four elementary schools participated in a field trip to Plum Island to learn more about the beach ecosystem and lend a helping hand to the fight against beach erosion by planting dune grass in sections of barren dunes on the north side of the island. The planting location was selected in coordination with the Joppa Flats Mass Audubon team, directed by Lisa Hutchings and resident volunteers of Plum Island and many surrounding communities.
Students from Pine Glen Elementary try their hand at planting new dune grass bundles on the backside of a sand dune. The dune grass’ root system will help stabilize and support the dune in the years to come!
While half of a school’s second graders attended the field trip, the half remaining at home participated in a full day of science investigations, including searching for the source of the Merrimack River using Google Earth, an erosion scavenger hunt of the school grounds, and the use of the Science Center’s state of the art Landform Model Sandbox, a tool using a digital projector to create an “augmented reality” experience demonstrating landforms, watersheds, and flooding!
The Science Center and Mass Audubon were both thrilled with the results as were the residents of Plum Island. Our students were even featured in a news article from the Newburyport News! The Science Center looks forward to continuing this collaboration with Mass Audubon in the years to come.
Modeling Changes to Earth’s Surface: Where Would You Build? April 11, 2018
Posted by Sean Musselman in Science Center, Student Work.Tags: earth science, erosion, Grade 4, human impact, Pine Glen, video
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Pine Glen fourth graders got an opportunity to play waterfront developer during their stream table investigation this week. After creating what was discovered to be a model stream/river and beach, students were given the opportunity to decide where they would build homes on the landform site.
Some went for big risk, big reward while others took a more conservative approach. In the end many realized that the power of moving water was a force to be reckoned with! Along the way they considered how their small scale model might provide evidence for how larger landforms such as canyons and deltas form on our Earth’s surface.
The Burlington Science Center 