River Journey: Exploring the Value
of the Mississippi
The journey has begun! The River
Journey project is under way at River's Edge Academy. Teachers, staff, students,
community partners, and the project coordinator are collaborating on a year-long exploration
of water as it flows through River’s Edge and the Twin Cities area. This
semester, students are tracing the flow of water to and from the school’s
kitchen sink to understand how they and the school are interconnected with the
Mississippi River.
Upstream - Midstream - Downstream
After an introduction to the project on August 27th,
students spent two days traveling upstream from the school to the water supply
intake pumps at Fridley where St. Paul gets its drinking water from the
Mississippi River.
They visited the lakes the water passes through, and toured
the water treatment plant where the water is transformed into tap water. The
students also studied different ways of seeing and using the river and the
values those uses represent considering community, culture, economy, and
ecological values.
September 15th and 16th,
students canoed the river with Outward Bound and passed the intake pumps they
had visited in August. The students explored water and sewer systems near and
within the school, measured water use from hand-washing, toilet flushing, and
drinking fountains, and considered how to save water and money by conserving
water at school and home.
September 24th was an all school boat tour
to the channel near Pig’s Eye Lake, where sewer water returns to the river
after treatment. During the boat ride, students continued their study of values
and the river, presenting to teachers and their peers the history of the
sometimes conflicting ideas about how the river should be used.
Coming Next
In October, students will visit the waste
water treatment plant and Kaposia Landing to conclude the expedition phase of
the project, which sets the groundwork for the next two phases: 1. Creation of
a public online map about the river and water use in their school based on
student creative work and research, and 2. a spring exploration of rain water
at REA and a service project to improve the impact of River’s Edge on the
Mississippi.
River Journey is coordinated by
Jonee Brigham, through a fellowship from the Institute on the Environment at
the U of MN, and with the support of many community partners. The project is
based on a model Brigham developed for art-led environmental education called
Earth Systems Journey. See http://earthsystemsjourney.com for more about the model.
