Week 2 Tuesday October 21st: Why soil and the earth is important to us

Today, we started by drawing an outdoor place that is important to each of us. We then explained to one another why that place was special and why we would care if that area was polluted or contaminated.

We then read two stories from different Native American tribes about the creation of the earth. The teens split into two groups and each performed one of the 2 stories we read as a skit. We utilized taxidermy animals from the museum's collections to help us represent some of the animals in the stories. Afterwards, the students analyzed and interpreted how the stories reflect what is important to the people who wrote these stories.

An intern with a taxidermy animal used in one of the skits

To finish the day, the teens learned about contaminants. They divided into four groups that each focused on and researched a specific pollutant. The groups were air pollution, acid mine drainage, lead, and agricultural pollutants like fertilizer. The students did preliminary research on their topics and created an outline of the work they needed to do on thursday to complete the project.