One professor has been engaging her students in environmental science service-learning projects within the local community this semester. The students have been blogging about their progress through writing and multimedia on a public website built via Sites@PennState.
That professor is Mahsa Kazempour, associate professor of science education at Penn State Berks. The course project, which began last spring in BI SC 003 (GN) Environmental Science, is made possible thanks to a Teaching and Learning Innovation Grant offered through Penn State Berks’ Center for Teaching and Learning and help from Mary Ann Mengel, the center’s instructional multimedia designer.
“Mahsa partners with community organizations to identify initiatives the students can support,” Mengel said. “We piloted the collaborative site during spring 2015. During the fall 2015 semester, additional student teams have contributed to the site, continuing to tell the story of how Berks’ students contribute to environmental projects in the community.”
This fall, there are four participating organizations and 15 teams of students, Kazempour said. Students, who are each devoting eight to 10 hours of service, have been chronicling their experiences through posting photos and videos on the project’s website.
Students and other website visitors are encouraged to leave comments for the various teams and share the students’ work on social media, Kazempour said.
Students will be holding project presentations on Dec. 4, where each team will have a poster display and information table to inform the campus and local communities about their projects and environmental issues they have researched during the semester. The presentations will be held between 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., in the Gaige Building lobby at Penn State Berks.
“My hope is that through the presentations and the webpage, students’ service learning projects are showcased and their level of community engagement is therefore recognized by the community,” Kazempour said.
One of the participating organizations, Glenside Elementary School, has five teams working on projects this semester. For Glenside, which is located in the Reading School District, Penn State Berks students are doing various projects, from creating murals paintings of trees and their seasons on cafeteria poles to holding educational stations at school festivals to teach students about trees and other environmental concepts.
During the spring and fall 2015 semesters, Kazempour’s students have also partnered with Penn State Berks’ M&O and the Horticulture Research Center on a few projects, including monitoring and cleaning bluebird houses, designing rain barrels, and building native bee habitats for honeybee gardens.
According to Kazempour, two teams are working with the nonprofit organization Reading Beautification, Inc., which hosts cleanup events throughout Greater Reading. Projects for the nonprofit involve cleaning dam surroundings and a walking trail, as well as cleaning Reading playgrounds and parks.
Seven teams are working with Schuylkill River National Heritage Area, Kazempour said. The area covers 128 miles of the Schuylkill River and boasts parks, trails, and historic places. According to Kazempour, teams are working on various projects, from river mapping to preventing erosion and destruction of bike trails.
One student who is working with the area and has been enjoying the project is Tracey Witmyer, whose team, “Green Lightning Awesome,” recently used wheelbarrows of dirt to level off the soil on a trail to stop erosion from spreading.
“I personally feel doing this community service has opened my eyes about the environment,” Witmyer said. “I’ve recently joined the Sustainability Team and done other projects, such as the Food Recovery Network, to help reduce the waste. It has made me more understanding about taking care of our environment.”
Last spring, there were 21 teams and six participating organizations, Kazempour said. Community organizations have mentioned that they really appreciated the types of projects students worked on last year and hope the student projects will encourage other individuals to volunteer their time.
“For the most part, they love the fact that it's now being projected on the page, and that people can read about these organizations and how they're working and partnering with Penn State Berks students,” Kazempour said.
One student who was involved with the spring project is junior Kyle Baker. Baker’s team, “Food Sustainability Group,” partnered with the Food Recovery Network to help raise awareness of the impact food waste has on society.
Baker and his teammates conducted polls with students regarding food waste, researched issues surrounding food waste, and reached out to campus food services to help establish a Food Recovery Network on campus. Giving back to the community for a good cause felt incredible, Baker said.
“I do believe more projects like this should be incorporated into this University because it made us think about issues University-wide,” Baker said. “I believe if every student had one of those epiphanies and acted on that, our school could see constant yearly changes that would benefit the school as a whole, and in the Food Recovery Network's case, the community and nation as well.”