OutREach

Each year, more than 70 high school juniors and seniors take part in four “hands-on” workshops dealing with water quality and pollution from various sources.

Complimenting Regents requirements, students take part in hands-on learning labs. The labs include:

• Single tank reactor washout (pollutants in water)
• Single tank reactor, Single load (more complicated scenarios)
• Tap water tour ( home water samples)
• Watershed water quality (land usage and effects on water quality)

Each lab demonstrates a set of skills to solve problems that can be utilized in the next lab. Students also learn some basic laboratory techniques, including pipetting, weighing and creating standard solutions which augments their experience.

Overall, the goal is to teach students to engage in math and science rather than be afraid of it by doing activities rather than having them explained. The hands-on nature of the program comes from our annual Applied Environmental Science Program, which is held at Miner Institute in the fall semester in conjunction with SUNY Plattsburgh.

For more information about the High School Chemistry Program at Miner Institute, contact Steve Kramer at 518-846-7121, ext. 127.