Alice Ferguson Foundation

The staff of environmental educators at the Alice Ferguson Foundation normally engages students through in-person, outdoor learning experiences on the foundation’s historic farm and surrounding area. During the current pandemic and to keep students safe, lessons with the students must be done online. A key measurement that students can take involves macroinvertebrates and other water creatures. Effective viewing of samples can be done with a digital microscope and students can see microscope images during on-line live lessons. This grant will supply the microscope and associated equipment to enable on-line student participation in measurements. Students will then be engaged in data analysis and their own research projects. This will also prepare students for the future return to in-person environmental observation.