Universities have many resources that are often under-utilized and can be made available for schools. More importantly universities are filled with young people studying science who can serve as powerful role models and tour guides for students of all ages. In my unit on plants this spring I took advantage of the resources of Barnard College to engage my fifth grade students.
The Barnard Greenhouse is a hidden gem on top of Millbank Hall located on the Barnard campus. It occupies the entire roof of the building and is run by a very knowledgeable and friendly Botanist, Krystyna Bucharowski. When I inquired about visiting the greenhouse with my students she was generous with her time and eager to invite my students to the facility. Equally generous was Professor Hilary Callahan who helped organize the trip and was a full of information about the plants and the research uses of the facility. I was able to arrange the whole trip with a few phone calls and emails.
The Barnard Greenhouse has a variety of rooms, containing interesting specimens of plants that are used in university class demonstrations. The main room is approximately a forty-foot cube and contains an amazing array of plants including vanilla vines, coffee plants, and banana trees. Krystyna also set up a carnivorous plants station at the front to wow the kids. The Greenhouse also contains rooms designated for student and faculty research projects. The greenhouse has an array of automatic controls that control the climate and conditions of the greenhouse for the benefit of the plants.
On our trip we were given a tour of the main room, a chance to do observational drawing in the cactus room and had a discussion about plant experiments in one of the experimental rooms. The students were excited to make connections between the fast plant experiment that we did in the classroom to the types of experiments being done by graduate and undergraduate students in the greenhouse. One student explained, “Oh so your control variables were the type of plant and the space you gave them.”
One of the most beneficial aspects of the trip were the student tour guides. Undergraduates at Barnard the students were knowledgeable and excited to share what they had learned by working in the Greenhouse. They left a powerful impression on my students as they were only about seven to ten years older than fifth graders. Some of my students left saying that they wanted to pursue science as a career.
I would encourage all science teachers to reach out to local universities and science institutions. You are might find a generous person who can enrich the experience of your students.
