by Alicia Smith, Lower School Science Specialist

Our 5th Grade scientists participated in “A Day in the Life of the Hudson River” on October 20, 2016. This is a statewide event in which students and community groups collect valuable data on the health of the Hudson River. As part of this year’s event, more than 4,000 participants collected data along the river and estuary.   Our student scientists collected data on the weather, current, tide, turbidity, and chemistry of the water from near the mouth of New York Bay, just north of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. They also made a detailed description of the area surrounding the testing site and the amount of water traffic, which impacts the health of the bay and river. Our data will be sent to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to help scientists understand the overall health of the Hudson and the factors (good and bad) that might be impacting the river. We are also maintaining a database of our data for our own longitudinal study.

The 5th Graders thought that this was an awesome field trip because they had the opportunity to use professional equipment in the field. Noah (Spanish 5th Grade) reflected that he felt “this big strong feeling to be part of this large learning community” that was doing such great things.