Middle School Programs
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV)
Bring SAV to your classroom in an informative and interactive program about St. Johns Riverkeeper’s current efforts to restore the River’s underwater grasses. Tailored to middle school students, this program focuses on how SAV are important to our River, how they are in trouble, and what we can do to help. After the presentation, students will engage in a hands-on activity where they will extract “river organisms” from various SAV habitats to understand how the presence of SAV affects our ecosystem.
Max 30 students per program.
Aquifer
Learn what aquifers are, how they work, and why they are important. Using our aquifer model, students will learn about the different layers and how everyday actions can impact surface and groundwater. They will consider the effect that the growing population in Florida has on the aquifer and the environmental impacts resulting from human activity through a discussion of saltwater intrusion into the Biscayne Aquifer and the growing concern of sinkholes around the state.
Max 25 students per program.
Water Quality
Test the water quality of the St. Johns River or one of its tributaries. Work in small groups to run the tests such as temperature, salinity, pH, turbidity, Nitrite/Nitrates and Ammonia, and analyze the data to get an understanding of the waters overall health. Discuss how human activity impacts our waterways and how we can avoid the repercussions.
This program can be performed once or as a year-long river study. We provide all materials for teachers to conduct studies independently.
Max 25 students per program.
Climate Change Board Game
Learn the fundamentals of climate change and how it is impacting the St. Johns River watershed. Students will learn about topics including Earth’s atmosphere, weather vs. climate, the Carbon Cycle, climate change impacts, mitigations and more. Afterwards, students will play “Climate Change: the board game” where players must work together to fight against climate change impacts in the St Johns River to advance through the river to the Atlantic Ocean. This program is ideal for upper middle and high school students.
Max 25-30 students per program.
Field Trips and Community Service
Interested in a field trip or need community service hours? Please visit our field trip page page for more program opportunities.
Want to help clean up the St. Johns River every month? Join St. Johns Riverkeeper’s young professionals group, Rising Tides, for their monthly cleanup on McCoys Creek (open to all ages!). Visit our events page for more information. Parents must sign a waiver on behalf of anyone under the age of 18.
St. Johns RIVERKEEPER is a privately-funded, independent and trusted voice for the St. Johns River and the public to whom it belongs. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and rely on the support of our members, donors, and volunteers to accomplish our mission. Please consider making a donation to support our educational programming.
Suggested donation, $5 per person