Mystic River Student Interactive Activity

Students walked behind the Andrews Middle School to the path along the Mystic River. There, students participated in an activity that tests and builds on knowledge of their local ecosystem at the same time doing physical activity that keeps students engaged and learning in the activity. This lesson’s main goal was to inform students of their natural surroundings and make them not afraid to explore, Also, with this newfound curiosity, students will want to protect the forests and will appreciate the gift that we have right outside our door. In the classroom, the students had a lesson about the transfer of energy in living things. When participants headed outside, they drew and took down observations of the organisms they found along the walk. As a class, in a span of fifteen minutes, they found common organisms like garlic mustard, an invasive plant, as well as rarer species like a juvenile peregrine falcon. When the class went back inside, they discussed what they saw and talked about where these organisms would fit in a food chain. At the end, the Mystic River Student Interactive Activity encouraged students to continue to visit the Mystic River and the Middlesex Fells.

Project done by Gus Tringale