4-H2O PONTOON CLASSROOM
 
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 Over the past several years, Clemson Cooperative Extension has partnered with community associations and state agencies to produce week-long, youth water quality education programs on lakes throughout South Carolina.

These programs, entitled, 4H20 Pontoon Classroom. garner favorable attention from the wider watershed communities. The partnerships establish support for Cooperative Extension among a new clientele.
Each 4H20 - Pontoon Classroom is produced as an independent community partnership. Most commonly, a local lake association is the community partner.

Implementation of 4H20 - Pontoon Classroom melds the talents of Cooperative Extension county agents and aquatic ecology specialists with the resources and good will of private citizens who live on or near the large reservoirs in South Carolina.

This team approach not only enhances the educational experience for the children, but also forges strong links between Extension, lake associations, state agencies, children in the programs and, indirectly, to the local schools.

A uniform curriculum is provided for the independent 4H20 - Pontoon Classroom programs. The local program team adapts and adds to the curriculum to suit local needs and expertise.

Common learning experiences include: exploring the local watershed; water chemistry testing; microscopic identification of invertebrates and algae; making and using Secchi disks; dissolved oxygen and temperature monitoring (including drawing a DO/Temperature profile of a stratified lake); and fish identification.

Individual programs add canoeing, swimming; fishing instruction and/or local field trips. All programs emphasize teaching science information and skills, in the guise of an enjoyable week on the lake
South Carolina's statewide structure for the 4H20 - Pontoon Classroom program can serve as a model for public-private partnerships for science-intensive, youth water quality education in other states.

 

 

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Programs of Clemson University Extension Service are open to all citizens regardless of ages, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital or family status and is an equal opportunity employer.

Clemson University Cooperating with U.S. Department of Agriculture and South Carolina Counties. Issued in Furtherance of Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, Acts of May 8 an June 30, 1914.
 

Last modified on 09/23/2001 .
This page created and maintained by Bob Spalding of Cooperative Extension Service.