This is a request for funding of our school education programming. The two offerings for which we seek funding are: (1) River Explorer - Using a variety of nets to catch different creatures and then studying them in aquaria, and perform water quality testing and other activities, students (grades 4-12) in greater Cincinnati investigate and learn about river ecology, pollution, and habitat protection; and (2) Mussels in the Classroom (MIC) where students are provided mussels and aquaria to care for, monitor, and learn about these ecologically important animals. To also further develop environmental literacy, we a re distributing Russell the Mussel for distribution to MIC students in grades 4-6.
Goals/Objectives:
For the 2 programs the goals are: (1) spark interest in environmental science and STEM subjects, (2) connect the concept of watersheds to 4th through 12th grade science and social studies core content, (3) encourage interest in conservation careers. These goals will be achieved by: (1) training educators and hiring a full-time coordinator to consolidate the current coordinator role shared by several part-time staff, (2) researching schools within a given radius of RE trip sites and soliciting STEM teachers at those schools, and (3) marketing MIC to schools region-wide, with a special focus on inner city schools to provide this unparalleled program to underprivileged students.
For 2022, we are expecting continuing impacts from COVID19; however, beginning in fall 2021 some schools did resume River Explorer field trips programming with us. We are still cautious of full resumption at historic levels of ~3,500 River Explorer students. So, we are going to forecast 2,500 CY2022 River Explorer students in Greater Cincinnati, but have adequate staff and resources to provide field trips for up to 3,500 students. On the other hand, the MIC program has performed admirably during COVID19 and teachers have expressed interest in continuing (and expanding in their schools) MIC with us as COVID19 restrictions allow. Thus, we are comfortable forecasting at least 1,500 MIC students in Greater Cincinnati, but will be prepared to provide the program to another 2,000, if necessary.
Grant Evaluation Report:
We met some goals, but not target numbers. We remain pleased with the very positive feedback we receive from teachers regarding their students academic performance after participating in our programs. While we were somewhat disappointed with River Explorer attendance, we expect that with more staff time dedicated to school outreach, attendance will rebound this year and continue to grow. The MIC participation numbers did not disappoint and we believe the runway for growth of the program is exceptionally long and we've only just started down that path! We expect 2023 numbers for both RE and MIC to exceed 2022's results.
Results:
For 2022, we saw continued interest and growth in programming with participation in Greater Cincinnati for River Explorer at 2,002 students and 1,851 students for Mussels in the Classroom. For a 2022 total of 3,853 students.
For River Explorer the participation level was lighter than the original goal (2,002 v. 2,500). We attribute this to cancellation of trips by teachers new to the program, changes in school trip COVID rules, and nervous about weather forecasts. We believe that better communication between ORF and teachers will lead to better results and fewer cancellations. The MIC program exceeded the goal of 1,500 students with 1,851 participating in Greater Cincinnati. Overall, with the recent (January) addition of a full-time Education Programs Manager (former education programs manager at the Cincinnati Zoo) communications and outreach will greatly improve and growth of the respective programs will resume and continue.
: March 2022
