Great Lakes Field Station at Kelleys Island

Just experienced an amazing day trip to Kelleys Island with Annalies, Sheli, Nick, Beth, and Megan. My name is Rich Rosen, a board member with PAST Foundation, and a guest blogger for this post on STEM on the Road.

Over the course of the next few years, this small school in the middle of an island on Lake Erie is seeking to transform itself into a field station using the Great Lakes as the learning laboratory for students to explore as part of their high school education. To get started, 3 summer bridge programs are being designed by PAST in conjunction with the Kelleys Island Schools District (KISD), and will be offered to about 60 students across Ohio in June/2012.

Sheli, Megan, Nick plan the locations
 on the Island for Entomology Program.

The Board of KISD has taken a bold step with the upcoming summer bridge programs they are planning with the support of PAST. With what is learned about the island as a field school this summer, the long range plan is to establish a year-round Field School. This offers the potential to add more robust learning environments at the local school for the teachers and students who are year-round residents, as well as a magnet to attract students from other STEM schools in Ohio and elsewhere who would attend the field school for extended periods of time. No other resource like this is available to students or teachers in Ohio or in the US.

Beth (middle) is coordinating the sessions, and she's joined here by graduate students Megan and Nick from The Ohio State University sitting on the banks of the quarry.

Here's Nick at the quarry, one of the sites for
Entomology - Miniature Masters of Human Fate

Geology will be seen close-up as students
see Glacial Grooves and Geological
Mysteries of the last Ice Age

All that remains from an abandoned winery is this beautiful stone wall.
A site that holds some mysteries for the students to explore.

The school is located in the middle of the island. Kelleys Island is off the north coast of Ohio and students will reach the island on a ferry leaving from Marblehead, Ohio.  

I can just imagine the problem based learning (PBL) opportunity that exist in this island community. Stay tuned to see what the students create.


Oh, and a final discovery that Annalies and I found during our drive home! For those who drive up from Columbus to Kelleys this summer, we highly recommend stopping in Norwalk at Sheri's Coffee House - 27 Whittlesay Avenue - for a nice mocha. We met the owner, and the cafe was filled with local after-schoolers hanging out. Maybe some of them are future summer bridge program students at Kelleys in 2012 and beyond. You never know?