District Administration - July 2010 - (Page 15)

Raising the Bar for Environmental Science Julie Schnedler’s students rally the community and bring national attention to the plight of the Northern Bobwhite Thinking big can reap big rewards. Julie Schnedler had only taught sixth-grade science for a year at Mediapolis Community School in Mediapolis, Iowa, before entering her 66 students in the inaugural Disney Planet Challenge. It was a leap from her previous efforts to engage students on the environment. “We had done some hands-on recycling, but nowhere near what the Disney project offered,” Schnedler said. Schnedler thought it would be an interesting way to boost the science curriculum in the small, rural district, but it turned out to be a lot more. The project, “Operation: Save the Quail,” won the national grand prize and focused attention on the plight of the Northern Bobwhite, a quail whose numbers have thinned dramatically in recent decades. For their hard work, Mediapolis students were rewarded with a four-day trip to Disneyland and were featured on the Disney Channel. Their story even captured the attention of “Good Morning America”. “Mediapolis and the county as a whole is just very proud of these kids,” Schnedler said. “With the help of local media attention to our project, the word has gotten out a lot more than we expected.” The students formed strong bonds with community groups and learned some lasting lessons about care of the environment and the value of setting and meeting goals, she added. “They learned the importance of teamwork—the fact that they may be young but they can still make a difference in their society,” she said. “I don’t think any one of them thought they could achieve anything as big as what we did.” Julie Schnedler’s students during their Grand Prize trip to Disneyland in California. Schnedler said the school’s ﬁfth-grade students are already buzzing about what they might do as sixth-graders in the Disney Planet Challenge this fall. She’s also heard from potential competitors in other districts. “The word has deﬁnitely spread,” she said. “I think Iowa as a whole will have a lot more entries than last year.” What’s her new project going to be? “That’s top secret,” she said. “Winning the Disney Challenge is the result of not only hard work by the sixth graders but the support of our community. The sixth graders have been named ‘Citizens of the Year’ for their project but clearly this is a celebration of our total community effort. Mediapolis takes great pride in everything they do! Great students, great school, great community!” — Frederick G. Whipple, Superintendent, Mediapolis Community School District Operation: Save the Quail Mediapolis students worked with the Des Moines County (Iowa) Conservation Board before deciding to do a project involving the Northern Bobwhite. The prairie-loving, reddish-brown quail’s numbers have dropped 82 percent in the United States over the past 40 years as its natural habitat has shrunk, according to the National Audubon Society. The sixth-graders chose to restore 18 acres of a county-owned plot called Luckenbill Woods, which had been overrun with invasive plants such as sumac and dogwood that quails shun. The students conducted research, wrote a business plan and grant letters, and secured an $8,000 donation from the local chapter of Pheasants Forever to fund the project. With the help of community members, the group prepared the site with a controlled chemical burn and replanted it with native grasses and widely-spaced shrubs—creating the perfect environment for the tubby, ground-hugging quails. Future classes will continue to monitor and tend the site to ensure that it serves as a proper refuge for Northern Bobwhites.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2010

District Administration - July 2010
Contents
Advertiser Index
Letters
From the Editor
News Update
Sustainability Update
Technology Update
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
The Golden State Loses Its Luster
Seeking Justice in San Francisco
The Push for Public Preschool
Gearing up for the New Assessment
Books
Products
Online Edge
Supervisor’s Insights
Crisis Response
Supervisor’s Opinion
Tech Disruptions
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion

District Administration - July 2010