Recreation

Grade Level: 6-8

Academic Areas: Interdisciplinary

Duration of service: 3 weeks

Character Virtues Giving, Caring, Responsibility, Civic virtue and Citizenship

Technology: GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing

Service Areas: Environmental, Public Safety

Service Learning Project:

Students in grades 6-8 PE classes will receive 3-weeks of training in the use of GPS and digital photography. Since the project involves community resources and student responsibility, service learning and character education principles and practices will be continually emphasized. Environmental concerns will also be addressed. In addition, students will become more aware of the location of local recreation areas. Students will gather waypoints to define the various recreational areas of the community (Deposit, NY) and record digital images of these locations. This information will be overlaid on maps downloaded from internet sources. These maps will become part of brochures that will be disseminated through the community.

In addition, the teacher and community participants will seek individuals who can provide information to selected classes throughout the school about the effects of silt deposition on the local trout fishery and methods that help reduce this damage. Through contact with Trout Unlimited, they will attempt to initiate a project to reduce silting from certain local feeder streams involving Trout Unlimited volunteers as well as students and others from the community.

Goals and Objectives

Academic

Learning Goal: Students will become more aware of local recreational areas and the opportunities they provide.

Standard: Health, PE, and Family and Consumer Sciences – Standards 1, 2, and 3.

Learning Goal: Students will become more aware of the environmental effects of silting on fish and wildlife and its indirect effects on recreation.

Standard: MST – Standard 4, Science; Standard 5, Technology; and Standard 7, Interdisciplinary Problem Solving

Service

Community need: Lack of local knowledge about the location, usage of the local recreational areas, and the environmental impacts on them.

Possible Community Partners: School, Boy Scouts, Trout Unlimited, DEC, and other interested community members

Objective: Students will mark waypoints, take digital photos, and provide information to the community regarding recreational sites in the

community.

Objective: Students and others may participate in a project to reduce stream silting.

Technology

Learning Goal: Students will learn the use of GPS units to record coordinates of local recreational areas.

Objective: Students will learn how to take GPS coordinates and how to record point locations using the GPS receivers.

Learning Goal: Students will utilize digital photography to take pictures of these areas and produce a brochure for community dissemination.

Objective: Students will learn how to take digital photographs and use computer technology to create a brochure.

Character

Virtue: Civic virtue and citizenship

Objective: Students will learn that their actions can make a difference in the community.

Virtue: Responsibility, caring, and giving

Objective: Students will learn that completing a project successfully can make a difference in the community.

Key Activities

Key Planning Activities

1. Determine the availability of GPS units and digital cameras for use in the project.

2. Find or develop specific lesson plans for instructing students in the use of GPS units as needed in the project.

3. Seek the involvement of Trout Unlimited and DEC personnel to provide instruction about silting and help with the stream improvement project.

Key Service Activities

1. Students will collect location data for local recreational sites.

2. Students take digital photos of local recreational sites.

3. Students (from various classes) will hear presentations about the causes and effects of silting on aquatic habitats.

4. Students may take part in a stream improvement project if it can be organized.

Key Reflection Activities

1. Students will discuss with their teachers the benefits of the project they are about to participate in, both to themselves and to the community. This will include how civic virtue is an important trait.

2. Students will discuss how their participation in a community project helped them learn about community resources and the benefits of publicizing and maintaining them.

3. Students will reflect on how improving the environment directly affects members of their community.

Celebration Activity

Students will attend a picnic celebration for their contributions to the community, sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce and local merchants, if funding can be obtained. All participants in the project and their families will be invited to the picnic celebration.