ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE at The Hotchkiss School
2010 Hotchkiss Summer Portals environmental science students
Recognized and awarded a grant by the Charles Edison Foundation, 2009, 2010, 2011.
Come get muddy! If you’re drawn to the outdoors, and if you’re interested in examining our natural environment and its complex systems, and if you learn best by doing and by jumping right in and getting a bit dirty, then Environmental Science at Hotchkiss Summer Portals is for you. Our three-summer program is designed for motivated, enthusiastic kids, ages 12 to 15, who are eager to learn about environmental science. The three-summer sequence breaks down like this: Summer #1 – Learning the Ropes. You’ll learn basic field and laboratory practices and develop the skills necessary for the research and analyses of the second summer. Summer #2 – Working in the Field. You’ll be knee deep in the local environment, gathering data on the woods, fields, streams, lakes, and mountains that surround Hotchkiss, usually in the context of an environmental problem that needs to be solved. Then it’s back to the lab to sort out all that information. Summer #3 – Being a scientist. Act and think like a field scientist while conducting biodiversity surveys. In three weeks you will develop original hypotheses and carry out field experiments culminating in a formal presentation to the entire Portals community. The 2014 program is set to run from June 22 to July 13, so come join us as we hit the woods. With 800 acres of wilderness, farmland, and lakes, we have a lot to study!
James Serach Environmental Director
Environmental Director, James Serach, M.S.
the Environmental Science Program
The mission of the Hotchkiss Summer Portals Environmental Science Program is to cultivate in its students a knowledge of environmental science, provide an immersion in the natural world, and encourage them to become stewards of those resources on a local, regional, national, and global level.
Currently a Master Teacher who holds the Aldo Leopold Chair for Distinguished Teaching of Environmental Science and Ethics at The Lawrenceville School, Mr. Serach’s teaching experience ranges from Advanced Placement Environmental Science, biology, chemistry, along with electives in microbiology, geology, tropical biology, and limnology. Jim has the privilege and opportunity to work closely with other teachers to develop curriculum, discuss teaching and learning, and to observe, reflect on, and critique teaching methods. He received a B.A. in Chemistry from Potsdam College of Arts and Sciences in New York (1980) and a M.S. in Biology from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (1985), with an emphasis on the physiological ecology of bats. He held a New York State teaching certification in biology, chemistry, and general science from State University College in Buffalo, New York. He partially completed a Ph.D. program in biology at Boston University. Involved with the A.P. Environmental Science curriculum as a workshop consultant and instructor, table leader and question leader for the exam reading, Mr. Serach currently serves on the test development committee. He redesigned Lawrence Academy’s science curriculum and conceived several tropical field study courses at Lawrence Academy and The Lawrenceville School. A scholar of tropical ecology and bat biology for many years, Jim has conducted numerous workshops and presentations. His academic travels, for research and leading groups of students, include much of Central and South America, Ghana, Australia, Thailand, Japan, and Papua New Guinea. Courses are designed to emphasize skill development and genuine inquiry. He aspires to achieve scientific literacy in all students while including significant laboratory and field components, emphasizing inquiry-based learning, interpreting and collecting data, and using case studies.
The Program “Doing” science in a substantive and real-world way, out in the field, is at the heart of the Summer Environmental Science (SES) Program. The Hotchkiss Portals SES Program will expand your scientific skills through mentored investigations and sharpen your ability to ask focused, analytical questions and to find the empirical evidence you need to answer those questions. In short, you’ll be learning the fundamental tools of a practicing field ecologist. You’ll be using research-grade field and lab equipment and following the data collection and analysis techniques of practicing scientists. Three primary strands comprise Summer #1 of the SES curriculum. The first two, aquatic ecology and terrestrial ecology, form the core curricular elements that every student experiences. In these portions of the program, you’ll study the biology and chemistry of Lake Wononscopomuc and nearby streams, as well as investigate the woods, fields, and farmland of the Hotchkiss campus and its surroundings. You will hike, canoe, explore a cave, and climb a mountain – outdoor adventure for everyone, rain or shine! The third curricular strand has you nature journaling and drawing with an experienced art teacher. You will learn how to see the natural world and how to represent what you see in pencil, charcoal and watercolors. A gallery show at the close of the program gives you an opportunity to share (a piece of) your work with classmates and the Portals community. The SES Program has partnered with the nearby Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, one of the largest ecological research and educational organizations in the world. You’ll have the chance to learn from Cary Institute scientists doing research ranging from invasive species monitoring to global climate change modeling. Cary scientists will make presentations to the group and work with you and Hotchkiss SES faculty to develop both short-term research projects and long-term monitoring studies. The goal here is to help you engage in legitimate scientific research and then see first-hand how professional ecologists work. To take full advantage of what the SES Program is offering, you need to be eager to learn; curious about the natural world; and willing to spend time outdoors, rain or shine (and getting dirty), roaming New England (with an overnight canoeing and hiking trip on the Housatonic River!) Summer #2 of the SES Program is all about real-world problem solving. This follow-up session is for talented and motivated students who want to intensify the hands-on work of their first summer. The Summer #2 curriculum focuses on helping you gain direct experience with analyzing and formulating effective strategies for solving environmental problems. You’ll study several carefully selected local environmental issues and their actual and potential solutions. You’ll help in gathering relevant information through interviews, site visits, and research in the library, the web, and local resources. This real-world, problem-solving approach helps to develop your ability to think critically, your ability to ask important questions, and your ability to collaborate. SES’s Summer #3 program puts all that 1st & 2nd Year knowledge and experience to good use as you will be expected to do the work of scientists in the field. In addition to expanding upon the knowledge and field techniques learned and practiced during the first two summers, you will undertake an independent research project of your own design. Utilizing HabitatNet, a long-term biodiversity monitoring protocol developed using the Smithsonian Institution’s Man and Biosphere Program (SIMAB), you will begin to establish some long-term plots in Hotchkiss Woods by mapping quadrats and conducting initial biodiversity
surveys. As a result of this mapping process, you will ask questions about the observations you make and the data you collect, and the process of genuine field inquiry begins. You will experience the scholarship and excitement of refining an original question and then, in collaboration with your team, design a way to test your questions in the field. Finally, you will present your findings as real scientists do – in a scientific paper and a formal presentation. The fruit of this effort will be archived and our data will be used by Summer Portals and Hotchkiss students for future studies.
SES and Arava Fellows Hotchkiss Summer Portals is proud that it can supplement the environmental science faculty with SES Fellows. Teaching Fellows are current undergraduate and graduate students with training and expertise in ecological sciences. They are mature, responsible, and caring individuals with an interest in working with young people. Teaching Fellows assist with teaching, class preparation, and fieldwork. Their role is integral to the functioning of the SES Program, and you’ll find them to be positive influences and good role models. One or two of the SES Teaching Fellows will be current students at The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Located on Kibbutz Ketura in Israel near the borders of Jordan and Egypt, AIES admits one third of its students from the Middle East, one third from the United States, and one third from the rest of the world, ensuring a diverse community that fosters international understanding. During the one-year program at AIES, students take classes in ecology and environmental sciences, environmental policy, and social and cultural studies. We are confident that the Arava Fellows will bring unique perspectives to the Hotchkiss SES Program and that you’ll find them to be invaluable role models as you learn to think about ecological issues on a global scale.
A Typical Week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday
7:30 – 8:00
Communal Communal Communal Communal Breakfast in Breakfast in Breakfast in Breakfast in the Dining Hall the Dining Hall the Dining Hall the Dining Hall
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Communal Communal Sleep-in/ Breakfast in Breakfast in Optional the Dining Hall the Dining Hall worship service
8:00 – 8:15 Morning Morning Morning Morning Morning Morning Meeting Meeting Meeting Meeting Meeting Meeting 8:30 – 10:30 Sampling Topographic Vegetation Exploring a Successional Canoeing the 9:30 – 11:00 methods map and transect up beaver pond study on Blackberry Brunch in –Salmon Creek compass skills Haystack Lion’s Head River the Dining Hall Mountain 10:30 – 12:00
Chemical analysis lab
Soil lab in Beeslick Brook Woods animal signs
Tracks and Sampling Sucker Brook
12:15 – 1:00 Lunch in the Lunch in the Picnic Lunch Lunch in the Lunch in the Lunch in the Dining Hall Dining Hall Dining Hall Dining Hall Dining Hall 1:00 – 3:00 Transects — Mapping and Getting Spelunking Cellar holes Afternoon Great Mountain surveying to know in Indian Cove and stone walls Excursion Forest using GIS Robbins Swamp Cave —human signs 3:30 – 5:00 Recreational Recreational Recreational Sports/ Sports/ Sports/ Non-academic Non-academic Non-academic Activities/ Activities/ Activities/ Faculty, Dept. Faculty, Dept Faculty, Dept Meetings Meetings Meetings 5:00 – 6:00 Free Time Free Time Free Time 6:00 – 7:00 Communal Communal Communal Dinner in the Dinner in the Dinner in the Dining Hall Dining Hall Dining Hall
Recreational Sports/ Non-academic Activities/ Faculty, Dept Meetings
Recreational Sports/ Non-academic Activities/ Faculty, Dept Meetings
Free Time
Free Time
Free Time
Communal Dinner in the Dining Hall
Communal Dinner in the Dining Hall
Communal Dinner in the Dining Hall
Free Time: optional group activities and vans to town offered
Communal Dinner in the Dining Hall
7:00 – 9:00 Data analysis Creating maps and statistics using GIS to class manage data
Guest speaker Research skills Night walk and Evening Activity Study Hall/ from the Cary and applications star gazing e.g. dance, Evening Institute of movie Activities/ Ecosystem Supplemental Studies Learning
9:30
Dormitory check-in
Dormitory check-in
Dormitory check-in
Dormitory check-in
Dormitory check-in
10:00 Lights out Lights out Lights out Lights out Lights out Dormitory check-in 10:30 Lights out
Dormitory check-in Lights out
“Experience in the natural world is both an essential part of understanding the environment, and conducive to good thinking.� David Orr, Professor of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College
“I came across the first type of music on my canoeing trip. It was the music of nature. I can still recall the birds twittering the part of the violin, the branches rustling the part of the maraca, and the waterfall booming the bass. Our occasional laughter was the mischievous trumpet that pops in and out. The water current was the rhythmic clarinet that pattered aside. And our vigorous paddling was the melodious harp that grew around us. I never imagined before that nature could sound in such charming harmony.� Benjamin Zhuang 2009 Environmental Science Student
Environmental Science at The Hotchkiss School 11 Interlaken Road Lakeville, Connecticut 06039 Phone: 860-435-3173 Fax: 860-435-4413 Email: summer@hotchkiss.org www.hotchkissportals.org facebook.com/summerportals