INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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KIDS, HIGH-TECH EQUIPMENT, AND COASTAL WATERS ADD UP TO SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURE

Equip 14 Indianapolis area students ages 10 to 14 with high-tech equipment, throw in masks, fins, and snorkels, fly them 1,000 miles and what do you get?

A scientific adventure.

That is what studying science is all about, says IUPUI Professor Lenore Tedesco, who led the band of students to Florida.

The 14 students return to Indianapolis tonight (March 19), from the "Great Coral Reef Adventure," a 10-day expedition that took them to the coastal waters of Florida. The voyage brought together the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at IUPUI, and scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The middle and high school students will bring home with them a first-hand scientific understanding of watersheds that connects what goes on in their backyards and neighborhood creeks to Florida's coastal waters. Like the song that links one bone to another, the students have spent months studying how Indianapolis area creeks are linked to rivers that flow into the Mississippi and to the Atlantic Ocean.

While in Florida, they shared their experiences through a live on-site satellite broadcast with their classmates. Thousands of children will be able to see a Children's Museum exhibit based on their adventure.

Those findings will include the results of their exploration of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, a phenomenal old growth forest representing a portion of the vast south Florida wetland ecosystem; conducting experiments in the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve that focus on understanding the impact that land use has on estuaries, places where oceans and rivers mix; and an examination of Tigertail Beach, an incredible natural beach with shallow lagoons, critical wildlife areas, excellent tide pools and shore birds.

The young researchers are keeping journals and working with video cameras to document their experiences.

"The focus of the Great Coral Reef Adventure is to make young people aware of the science that is all around them. It is a dynamic opportunity to see science at work in the real world where it happens. It's kids performing real science experiments with real scientists," said Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Too often, children lose interest in studying science in middle school or high school, says Tedesco. The "Great Coral Reef Adventure" is designed to re-ignite the natural flame of exploration and curiosity children have about the world around them, she added.

The Center on Earth and Environmental Science, headed by Tedesco, was formed to promote awareness of earth and environmental science in Indiana. Its educational outreach programs demonstrate complex interdependent relationships between students and their surroundings that evoke a sense of wonder and appreciation in the eyes of tomorrow's environmental stewards.

Indianapolis area schools with students who went on the "Great Coral Reef Adventure" are: Hamilton S.E. High School, Fishers Junior High School, New Augusta Middle School, Plainfield High School, Shelbyville Middle School, Perry Meridian Middle School, Harrison Hill Elementary School, Fall Creek Valley Middle School, Center Grove Middle School, and Center Grove High School.

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