Frost Lake students carefully add water to their newly planted bean seeds. - FWS photo

Frost Lake students learn soil characteristics and how to use a balance. - FWS photo

In these times of computers and electronic games it can seem increasingly difficult to get children to embrace science and nature.  Yet, 48 second graders from Frost Lake School in St. Paul enthusiastically participated in hands-on experiments and activities that taught them plant science despite some language barriers created by less than 50% of the students recognizing English as a second language. 

Between the months of February and April, Twin Cities Ecological Services Field Office biologists Laurie Fairchild and Annette Trowbridge teamed with two Frost Lake elementary school teachers through an opportunity provided by the St. Paul Public School’s Common X-Change program. 

Over the course of four classroom science lessons, the teachers and TCFO biologists co-planned, taught and discussed four classroom science lessons ranging from plant adaptation characteristics to photosynthesis.  Students conducted experiments demonstrating the ability of soils to retain water, life cycles of plants, how plants grow and change, and characteristics of plants that help them survive in various environments.  In addition, students measured, weighed, and recorded the life of their plants using the data to answer questions about their plants.