OXFORD,
Miss – On a recent beautiful fall day, the entire fifth-grade class at
Oxford’s Della Davidson Elementary School got out of their classrooms
and spent a day learning hands-on about plants, fish and wildlife from
researchers who study the region’s wetland ecology.
The class
was treated to a field trip to the University of Mississippi Field
Station. The station’s resident director, Mark Baker, hosted the 250
students with help through the USDA National Sedimentation Laboratory’s
Adopt-a-School program.
“I enjoy giving school groups tours of
the Field Station, but when such a large group scheduled a visit, I
contacted Matt Moore at the Sed Lab to see if they could help,” Baker
said. “They’ve set up programs with other large groups at the Field
Station and they do a great job with the children.”
The
Sedimentation Lab’s Adopt-A-School program started in 1999 with Como
Elementary School and expanded to include Water Valley Elementary
School in 2001, said Moore, research ecologist at the laboratory.
“In 2003, because of travel constraints, we began focusing on Oxford and Lafayette County schools,” Moore said. Each year, as part of the program, the laboratory provides guest speakers, spare equipment, lab tours and other resources to any teacher requesting assistance
While the Della Davidson students may not have been inside a classroom, they still had class. The Field Station staff and Sed Lab representatives set up nine different stations, each manned by a research scientist who explained to the kids about their jobs in wetland ecology and the research they perform. It was “show and tell” with everything from fish to bugs to research equipment.
After being divided into groups, the students got to get in on the action. One of the researchers pulled dip nets from the pond, and the students got to help identify the fish, plants and other aquatic life that emerged. As part of the field trip, the students also got tours of the Field Station’s fire ant lab and new undersea vehicle lab.
In the fire ant lab, UM researchers are working to find new ways to control the invasive pests that do billions of dollars in damage to crops and property each year. The undersea vehicle work is a new direction at the Field Station involving development of high-tech approaches to observing and mapping important seafloor habitats.
The field trip represents an important part of the Field Station’s mission, which includes outreach as well as research, said Ray Highsmith, executive director of the facility.
“We have noticed a definite upswing in the number and size of school groups visiting the Field Station and are very pleased with this increased interest in our programs and the opportunity to be of service to our schools,” Highsmith said.
The UM Field Station offers opportunities for research in aquatic and terrestrial ecology. Located 11 miles northeast of the Oxford campus on Bay Springs Road, the 740-acre station lies in a scenic, three-mile-long, V-shaped valley surrounded by wooded hills and teeming with natural springs and seeps. For more information on research and education programs at the Field Station, go to http://baysprings.olemiss.edu/ .