In March, Upham Woods staff led the Research Accelerators in Milwaukee. Our team met with 3 different learner groups: Maryland Avenue Montessori School, Urban Ecology Center Young Scientist Club, and La Escuela Fratney.

At Maryland Avenue, we met with groups working on inquiry research projects as widely focused as ecosystem development to tree preferences by different animals. We helped refine their question and procedure and collected data. Students wrote scientific stories outlining their experience and any questions they had.

With the afterschool program – Young Scientist Club, we helped the young scientists learn more about their local garden. They are planning on planting vegetables soon and we helped them collect data about light, soil pH, and temperatures on their plots. We discussed the different factors plants need to be successful and compared our data to what they need to see if the garden plots would be a good place to grow their celery, green peppers, and tomatoes.

At La Escuela Fratney, we explored permeable and impermeable surfaces and how stormwater impacts their playground. The students brainstormed what different types of surfaces exist around their playground. We then went outside and mapped sections of their playground exploring permeable surfaces like grass and impermeable surfaces like concrete and how a water droplet may flow in that area.  Back inside, participants  calculated how much water would hit their section of the playground over the course of a year and how much of that water is able to sink into the ground or becomes runoff. At the end participants wrote stories about their experiences.