Grace College elementary education students taught fourth-grade students from Leesburg Elementary and Warsaw Christian schools about preserving the environment and area lakes during a field day at Lucerne Park Tuesday.
Participating Grace juniors and seniors are students enrolled in the college's Methods of Teaching Elementary Science course.There were five stations set up at Lucerne Park during a 4-1/2-hour time span. At the stations, Grace College students taught the elementary school students about fish indigenous to Kosciusko County, helped the elementary students create a nature journal and taught them about wildlife and nature.
Grace College also worked with the elementary students to help them perform a chemical monitoring experiment where they used tubes and tested physical properties of the water in Pike Lake. They had a sheet where they recorded levels of dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, general coliform, pH levels, phosphate, nitrate and turbidity in Pike Lake.
Sara Melcho, a Grace College elementary education major, assisted students with testing water and said she learned just as much as the elementary students.
"As a student, I have learned methods to teach elementary students, and it was great to make science practical to the young students and improve my teaching skills," Melcho said.
Dr. Shara Curry, Grace College teacher education department chair, said the day was an educational opportunity for both Grace students and the elementary students.
"It's a great opportunity for the college students to partner with the elementary schools to teach them about their environment," Curry said.
Eileen Boekestein, coordinator of Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams, and Luke Hunt, education director for Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams, came up with the idea for the field day.
"The purpose of today is to provide a new appreciation for the lakes and sense of responsibility for caring for the lakes," said Hunt, who also is a biology professor at Grace College.
Boekestein said she hopes the elementary students walk away with an appreciation for area lakes and know they can have an effect on the lakes.
"We want the students to learn that lakes and rivers in our county are treasurers," Boekestein said.
Grace College has a Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams department where it documents historical social settings and trends on lakes, establishes a water quality database and develops aquatic science curriculum.
Kosciusko County Lakes and Streams conducted a water quality study last year on 30 lakes in Kosciusko County in collaboration with Grace College and several governmental agencies concerned with water quality in the county.
The water quality project last year was made possible by a $250,000 grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation and $50,000 in water-sample testing provided by the Kosciusko County Health Department.
