OAK HARBOR – Educators, including Ottawa County Probate and Juvenile Court staff, are starting to use a STEAM program at an H2Ohio wetland to teach science and art classes.
Earth Heart Farms welcomed local teachers, members of the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce, North Point Educational Services Center and the Ottawa County Probate and Juvenile Court for professional development instruction on June 2 in an effort to increase participation in their STEAM programs.
The event was the fourth year for the Earth Heart Farms STEAM-program and the first for the court staff.
“Earth Heart Farms offers youth hands-on learning that builds leadership, resilience and critical thinking. Through nature-based activities, they gain physical and mental health benefits while developing a deeper connection to the environment,” Judge Frederick C. Hany II said. “When we care for the Earth, we care for ourselves. We’re grateful for this opportunity in our community and for our juvenile court.”
Earth Heart Farms teamed up with the University of Toledo’s GLOBE Mission EARTH (GME) and the support services of NPESC. Over 700 students and 32 educators from 11 local schools have visited EHF since the STEAM program began in 2022.
Vicki Rae Harder-Thorne, a fourth-generation land steward and local site program coordinator, founded Earth Heart Farms.
From 1883 to 1993, the property off Mudd Creek Road near Oak Harbor was a conventional family farm. Harder-Thorne’s parents were founding members of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. After falling in love with birding, they decided to turn the 80-acre family farm into a wetland, which Harder-Thorne did with the H2Ohio conservation program.
The private property has since been a stop on the private property tour of the Biggest Week in American Birding, and a source for STEAM education.
“We’re excited to open our STEAM-program to organizations and agencies outside of the local school districts. Through GLOBE data collection protocols and stewardship projects, our program can help fulfill both community service and graduation requirements,” Harder-Thorne said. “Fall Field Days at EHF provide hands-on outdoor lab experience where K-12 students and educators can study biodiversity, ecosystems, extreme weather, air, soil-water health, our upstream effect on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Lake Erie and environmental science careers.”
The GLOBE Program is a worldwide citizen science program that provides hands-on learning for educators and students. Participants learn how to collect observations about their local environments utilizing standardized data sampling protocols. Data is shared on a public database where NASA scientists and users around the world can view and access the data for research.
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This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald:
Juvenile court staff get STEAM education in the wetlands and woods
