The Waterfront Classrooms of PS 676

Cultivating Red Hook’s future environmental stewards through field-based learning

There’s nothing like a day in the field to get students excited for a day at school. Remember that feeling? You’ve handed in your permission slip, your lunch is packed, and you blissfully join your class knowing that you’re heading outdoors! 

For students this summer at PS 676, field experiences became part of their regular school day. Based in Red Hook -  walking distance from a variety of waterfront locations, 3rd and 4th graders spent their Fridays with Billion Oyster Project on the banks of New York Harbor. By observing the natural phenomena at their doorstep, these young scientists learned basic biological principles, data collection techniques, and lab fundamentals through a lens of restoration and local ecology.  For six weeks, a  class of 15 students explored 5 local waterfront sites including Billion Oyster Project’s Field Station at Erie Basin in collaboration with Learning through an Expanded Arts Program (LEAP) for this year’s Summer Rising program. Pulling up Oyster Research Stations (ORSs) onto the pier, students experienced and assessed the health of their harbor and oyster installations in addition to the arts-driven courses led by LEAP. The addition of a science-based curriculum at the end of each week sought to bring nature and curiosity to the forefront of students' performances and artistic expression. 

Their first week began with sentimental recollections of their favorite experiences on the water and an introduction to oysters. Reluctant to touch their “creepy” shells, they quickly outgrew their fears and embraced this bivalve along with many other harbor species such as blue crabs, sea squirts, blue mussels, and skillet fish over the course of the summer. 

Trekking across New York City, the group conducted ecological and water quality assessments including oyster growth, water quality and species richness surveys. Students learned how to measure pH, turbidity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen in the water. In addition to data collection, students kept weekly journals of their observations and field experiences. Apparently, some of our sites were preferred over others. There was shocking resonance among the students at  the Gowanus Canal. 

The purpose of visiting the Gowanus Canal was to compare a more degraded, narrow, water body with the Upper New York Bay, which gets flushed by the tide twice a day. The students were the most immersed in Gowanus locations despite the amount of obvious land and water pollution in the area. We purposefully brought students, ” says Shinara Sunderlal, Education Outreach Coordinator at Billion Oyster Project. “They learned about the industrial history of the canal and practiced their water quality testing skills even more by comparing the habitats previously visited to their experience on the Canal.”

Next year, PS 676 will begin its transformation into a harbor middle school, thanks to the marine-focused programs that passionate staff have sought after. The re-envisioned school’s field-based curriculum, and District 15 status, could attract a diverse and environmentally engaged student body from Brooklyn’s waterfront to its inland neighborhoods such as Park Slope. The new PS 676 will become a pipeline for students to prepare for careers in marine science, engineering and maritime studies at the Harbor School on Governors Island - Billion Oyster Project’s flagship high school. 

“We want to help facilitate the transition by increasing the students' access to the waterfront. By engaging the students with local issues like the state of the Gowanus Canal, we can help them feel connected to their local community and ecosystem based around the Harbor.”

With the golden moments came inevitable hurdles - most notably for this summer program, student attendance. Dwindling and inconsistent attendance made activities and post-program surveys more difficult to execute and assess. For those who showed up, exposure to the spontaneity of the field was a respite from the monotony of the classroom. Continued partnership and experimentation with field learning will give both the LEAP and Billion Oyster Project education teams a better understanding of how to conduct these classes and incentivize long-term attendance. 

“The most rewarding part of our partnerships is seeing these students take ownership of the scientific tools for water quality monitoring,” says Shinara. “They were quick to grasp the process and wanted to lead every individual test themselves, including collecting the water from the Harbor!” 

As our work with PS 676 students comes to a close in 2022, we’re excited and optimistic about the programmatic support we can provide and learn from this new school. Though we’re based on Governors Island, our community reef sites are teaching tools that are accessible across all five boroughs. Expanding our educational programming in person with schools and online, introduces our future environmental stewards to the blue, natural resource in their backyard who will cultivate long-term restoration.