Burrell students teach, mentor younger generation on environment

Chad Clair wants to make science fun.

By the looks of students from Stewart Elementary and Burrell High schools at K-9 Officer Derek Kotecki Memorial Park in Lower Burrell last week, mission accomplished.

Students in Clair’s new Environmental Field Study course at Burrell, and members of the Environmental Club taught and mentored Stewart’s fifth graders about things they can find in their own backyard on Friday.

At one station, students got in Chartiers Run to collect and identify macroinvertebrates. They also measured trees and tested pH levels from creek water, bottled water, the Burrell High School water fountain and spring water off Milligantown Road.

“We’re taking the knowledge we learned throughout the year and are sharing it with the younger kids,” Senior Ben Murrin said.

Multiple stations covered various environmental and science topics including forestry and trees, stream studies and macroinvertebrates, water quality meters and pH levels, animal identification, making a bird feeder and leaf painting, according to Clair.

It’s important for students to get hands-on experience to learn about things they’re interested in, he said.

“They’re capable of doing the stuff they learned all year,” Clair said of the opportunity for his high school students. “They put it into action and realize it’s not so daunting, and they can carry it on into the future.”

And for the younger students?

“It makes science fun, and it shows you can do science in your own backyard,” Clair said.

Scarlett Snee, 11, would agree. She most enjoyed learning about trees from the older students.

“It was more fun than I expected it to be, but I knew it was going to be fun,” she said. “I like seeing the flowers and trees.”

Teachers hope the experience will inspire younger students interested in science to pursue it when they get older.

“They get to connect with an older student, someone they can look up to,” said Rich Porter, a fifth grade science teacher at Stewart. “It’s much more meaningful here at the park to do an environmental lesson than to take the kids to the high school and sit in a classroom.”

Senior Abby Ruffini said she liked teaching students what is in the streams around Lower Burrell.

“They are really interested,” she said. “I think they don’t realize how much they have around us.”