Environmental Education on the Erie Canal (E3C)

Session: Education, Outreach, and Citizen Science in Our Great Lakes: Engaging the Community (1)

Michael Boller, St John Fisher College, [email protected]
Kaeti Stoss, Delta Environmental, [email protected]

Abstract

Environmental Education on the Erie Canal (E3C) is a program that positions the Erie Canal in the Rochester area, often viewed only as a historical and recreational resource, as a testbed for STEM education and an opportunity to raise the public’s awareness of the sources and effects of water pollution. E3C brings together academic institutions, K12 schools, governmental departments, and local nonprofits with a charter and tour organization. E3C combines leading-edge canal excursions aboard a replica canal packet boat with hands-on water quality and aquatic ecology lessons that create citizen science data. This program first educates teachers, students, and adults about water pollution, water chemistry, and aquatic ecology to assess the overall health of the Erie Canal. Then, participants use their citizen science data and new knowledge to inform the general public how they can preserve and maintain a healthy canal system. Our session will be an overview presentation of the E3C program, how the stakeholders came together to develop curricula, resources, and funding, and how it is a model for future citizen science collaborations in other Great Lakes communities.