Photograph by Robert Scheer
Saratoga Elementary student Chris Chavez, 7, fishes an orange out of Saratoga Creek. Garth Bacon's science class timed the orange as it floated down the creek to calculate water velocity.
By Cecily Barnes
A group of Saratoga Elementary School fourth-graders spent last Monday morning frolicking around Saratoga Creek in Wildwood Park. One wouldn't know at first glance, but these kids were having a science lesson.
The lesson is an offshoot of the school district's hands-on science program, organized and directed by Garth Bacon. Bacon, whose paycheck comes from the Saratoga Education Foundation, created the program's curriculum virtually single-handedly.
Three years ago teachers and administrators realigned the K-8 science program to meet new state standards.
"At the time we realized one of the things we wanted to do is make science real for the kids," said Bacon. "Science is kind of cook-bookish; we wanted to make it more real."
Bacon decided upon the creek as an ideal outlet to educate Saratoga students about real-world science. Science students at every grade level have the opportunity to interact with and learn from Saratoga's zealously protected creek.
Each class has a designated activity that they do with the creek. Fourth-graders study earth science through an erosion experiment. Third-graders observe food chains, and even the kindergartners have their chance, observing the physical outcome of season changes. But fifth-graders engage in the most complex scientific experiment with the creek.
"The fifth grade does a study of zonation in the creek," explained Bacon. "At the creek, they do a cross-section and collect animals. We draw a full-scale cross-section of the creek on butcher paper and Xerox little copies of the insects onto the sheet."
For every creek field trip students are required to bring in permission slips, especially because sometimes the kids get wet.
"We take precaution because of the creek pollution," said Bacon. "A number of the students wear gloves, and that's fine."
In addition to teaching kids about science, and being just plain fun, Bacon's classes have begun compiling a database of information about the creek.
"We're starting a database where we record temperature, water level, flow rates, dissolved oxygen, nitrates and phosphates," Bacon explained. "The kids right now are in the process of developing a Web site about the creek."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 11, 1996.
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