STUDENTS GO UP NORTH TO CONDUCT RESEARCH ON GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY

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September 15, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

IB biology students headed to Suttons Bay again this week for a day of research into water quality in northern Michigan.

Since 1989, the Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) has offered a variety of options for schools to introduce students to hands-on learning on and around the Great Lakes. ISEA focuses on how to protect the Great Lakes by understanding watersheds, exposing youth to Great Lakes careers, providing inspiration and gaining experience with technology and skills used in the field.

In a repeat performance for some of the students in Notre Dame Prep's International Baccalaureate (IB) biology class, a total of 30 NDP students took a quick but very busy trip to Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan to study water quality in the Great Lakes. 

Last spring, a number of these same NDP IB biology students traveled to Suttons Bay as part of ISEA's Watershed Exploration Program focused on the ecology of wetlands.

According to upper school teacher Laura Elwood NDP'10, this fall's trip was again an extremely useful and educational experience for the students, who relished the time out in the field and away from the classroom.

"We started the day Thursday by doing comparative water chemistry with a hydrolab, a piece of equipment that tests for seven water quality measurements," she said. "Students actually took samples at school before we traveled north and then compared them to the samples taken from Suttons Bay."

HYDROLAB PHOTO GALLERY

The Inland Seas Education Association then assisted students as they worked as engineers to build underwater ROV (remote operated vehicles) that could complete three tasks: touch the wall in three different places, circle a pole in the water twice without touching it, and collect and bring back to the dock three objects, which represented water pollution.

UNDERWATER ROV PHOTO GALLERY

"Our kids ended the day on the schooner Inland Seas where they split into separate research groups focused on the fish in the lake, the water quality and the composition of the bottom of the lake with a focus on mussels," Elwood said. "They also worked in their groups to create a research question and collect data. Students then became 'experts' and presented their data to classmates in small groups with one student from each group."

SAILING PHOTO GALLERY

Elwood added that the students also had an opportunity to raise the sails on the ship. 

IB biology is two-year, college-level, lab-based course in biology with topics covered including cells, plant structure and function, chemistry of life, genetics, ecology biotechnology, evolution and human physiology.

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.