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Audubon program focuses on school science project

By Staff | Mar 23, 2012

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s April program at the National Conservation Training Center will focus on a grant-funded local school science project that is studying the feasibility of reintroducing Brook Trout into local streams.

The program will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Apr. 11 in Room 151 of the Instructional West Building. Admission is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

Brook trout are West Virginia’s only native trout. They no longer survive in the Eastern Panhandle because of degradation of habitat. The local school Brook Trout project is being undertaken this spring by seventh graders at Jefferson County’s Wildwood Middle School, under the guidance of science teacher Carolyn Thomas.

Ms. Thomas will explain how the project is providing students with a better understanding of a variety of subjects, including fish biology, the importance of local natural resources, the multiple factors that influence water quality, and the role of technology in conducting and communicating research.

The project is being supported by a $10,000 Toyota TAPESTRY grant. Administered by the National Science Teachers Association, the Toyota TAPESTRY grant program is the largest K-12 science grant program of its kind in the U.S. It awards grants totaling more than $500,000 annually for innovative classroom projects in the fields of environmental education, physical science, literacy and science education.

For more information about the Brook Trout project, go to the project website at boe.jeff.k12.wv.us/trout. For more information about the Toyota TAPESTRY grant program go to www.nsta.org/pd/tapestry.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is a United Way of the Eastern Panhandle partner agency and a member of the Combined Federal Campaign.