Summer Environmental Camp
The Summer Environmental Camp, co-sponsored by the University of Delaware Institute of Soil and Environmental Quality (ISEQ) and Delaware 4-H, has been held in June at Camp Barnes near Frankford, Delaware for the past four years. Two hundred Delaware youth, ages eight to eleven, and 30 high school 4-H teen leaders and college counselors attended the camp which had the following goals:
- To expose young people at an early age to basic soil and environmental science information that can be shared with all family members.
- To encourage the application of environmentally sound practices around the home.
- To promote career opportunities in sciences to young people.
Twenty-two graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the ISEQ worked with Delaware 4-H counselors and staff to teach classes on subjects such as "Colors of the Earth," "Super Stream Keepers," and "Digging up the Dirt on Soil Microbes." A final assembly brought together the students, teachers, and their families for a fun-filled "quiz bowl" where the youth had a chance to show what they had learned. Lesson plans from the classes taught at the camp are being developed for distribution to the teachers of the campers.
Click here for the currently available lesson plans for grades K-8.