ORONO, Maine — Nearly every variety of water — the kind that comes from the sky, the salty stuff in the ocean and the H2O that flows only underground — was on the minds and often wetting the hands of about 700 fourth- through sixth-graders Tuesday at the University of Maine.
Students from a dozen schools in eight counties attended the Water Festival organized by representatives from departments at UMaine, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Click here to test you knowledge of Maine’s H2O, with some jokes too.
The daylong program included game show quizzes about water hosted by Bangor area TV personalities and hands-on learning. Students blew bubbles to see how water molecules bond, tested water for phosphorus, cleaned up a simulated oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, de-iced a plane without polluting groundwater and took part in more than a dozen other activities.
Morgen Boisvert and Ryan Collins, both 10 and of Hampden, dove into the bins at the National Audubon Puffin Project’s booth. Inside, the boys found puffin costumes, nesting materials and food.
Once they had donned the costumes, the fifth-graders at the Weatherbee Elementary School in Hampden pecked gently at each other with their colorful beaks.
“I’m pretty sure they live along the rocks on the ocean,” Ryan said when quizzed about the bird’s habitat. “But we really learned about them in the third grade and that was a long time ago.”
Sue Schuvel, aka Seabird Sue, of South Bristol said the activity was designed to teach students about the species habitat and to encourage youngsters to pledge to keep the world safe for seabirds. Travis Hall, 22, of Orono is a student teacher at Asa Adams Elementary School in Orono. He attended the event with fourth- and fifth-graders from the Orono school.
“The research all shows hands-on learning engages the brain at a higher level than book and classroom lecture does,” he said as his students filled the Field House to sample as many as a dozen activities. “We spent some time preparing with materials we were provided by organizers. Our group won the quiz contest. That engaged and excited some students who aren’t necessarily as engaged in a classroom setting.”
Hall, who will graduate from UMaine in May, said that he remembered attending the Water Festival as a student growing up in Orono.
“It’s a much better program now, with a lot more hands-on activities,” he said.
Students also were able to take home information to share with their families. Much of it would allow them show off their new knowledge about water, ways to keep it clean and preserve it.