UNDER OUR FEET: A QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND PALAEOECOLOGY QUEST AT SILVERWOOD SCHOOL

Silverwood School is located on 18 acres in rural Poulsbo, Kitsap County, Washington. Under our guidance, forty-five fourth-through-sixth grade students are investigating the palaeoecological history of the school. Our students are asked to assume the role of palaeoscientists; with their research directed towards investigating “What was Silverwood like 10,000 years ago and how has it changed through time?” In the field, our students use augers to procure sediment samples for analysis and collect sediments from a backhoe trench. Grouped as research teams, our students are asked to measure and record data from a number of stratigraphic sections. Additionally, they classify soil colors, map the distribution of sediment types, as well as collect rocks, seeds, insects, and vegetation to form a comparative collection. Within the classroom, students learn to classify rock and mineral types, analyze sediment samples for particle size distributions, record basic chemical attributes, and learn to use microscopes to process samples for microbiological elements. Collaborative scientists from the greater community (private industry and organizations, county agencies, and state university) lend their expertise towards strengthening the students’ interpretations of their data. Each student team is responsible for creating a model that answers some aspect of the essential paleoenvironmental questions of this project.

This project implements a creative educational approach to science, initiates a model of innovative educational collaboration of people and resources, and endows a documentation of the natural environmental history of Central Valley for our community. This palaeoecology research project integrates State Essential Learning Requirements into Silverwood’s multidisciplinary science curriculum, and incorporates interdisciplinary studies to explore the nature and value of science and scientific enquiry. Our elementary students are involved in hands-on field and laboratory study, using sophisticated scientific equipment and methods. Our students learn that authentic science is often dirty and unpredictable, yet exciting in discovery. Our goal is that every student becomes engaged in scientific enquiry and in developing an active sense of community environmental stewardship.