Think Globally! Feel and Act Locally!
Urban Ecology and Environment: Educational Opportunities

Nine Mile Run Education Program
Project History and Goals

Beginning in 1997, research fellows at the STUDIO for the Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with The Pittsburgh Children's Museum, have developed classroom activities that invite school children, their teachers and families to consider the creative opportunities offered by brownfield sites. In 1999, the STUDIO team received a grant from the State of Pennsylvania State Department of Education to create education modules and reference materials for teachers. We chose to focus this project on urban watersheds to meet the educational needs of a wider audience and build on the environmental standards of the State of Pennsylvania.

We believe that urban *brownfields and other vacant spaces offer a unique learning opportunity to build on a students awareness and understanding of their immediate surroundings. We have developed specific themes, such as watersheds, streams, land, sustainability, etc., to explore at depth, using an inquiry-based method. We are designing the activities so that students are given the time to see, observe and discover first. We build the content on their discoveries. The content is guided by the proposed Pennsylvania State academic standards for environment and ecology. The activities are be described as self-contained modules on the web, with directions to teachers interested in adapting them in their art or science classes. For each activity, we will explain how it corresponds to the standards and describe how to set it up and guide the students in discovery. We also provide complete lesson plans structured around the activities.

Question: Leonardo Da Vinci, artist or scientist?
This work is based on one main hypothesis: Human beings are natural inquirers and inquiry (a systematic application of one's curiosity) is at the heart of learning. Students can use their own observations, (with some guidance) to approach the scientific method and topics that help them understand their environment. Additionally, careful observation of the environment and a (personal) record of natural phenomenon through-drawing and 3-D manipulation (creating a physical-visual record) provides a different level of learning. The goal of the modules: Integrate the tools of art and science through an inquiry based method. Science provides a systematic intellectual model with proscribed paths to achieve specific defensible analytical outcome. Art compliments this specific inquiry by providing an-experiential model with diverse paths to achieve creative/qualitative outcome. It is in the melding of analysis, creativity, curiosity and intuition that we find our best scientists and artists. These modules can serve a basis for either art or science classes.

Nine Mile Run, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania: A Case Study
Nine Mile Run is a historic stream valley in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, identified by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. as an ideal site for a city park in 1910. Between 1920 and 1972 twenty stories of steel mill slag were dumped on the site by the steel industry. In 1996 the property was targeted for a new community and an extension of a major city park by the City of Pittsburgh. The Nine Mile Run site became a case study for the researchers at the STUDIO, who have worked by now with the Homewood Montessori School, Dickson Intermediate School and John Minadeo School.

The students' homework and activities are documented at http://slaggarden.cfa.cmu.edu

The Nine Mile Run education program has emphasized history, community access and the environment. It explores soil, flora, habitat and water quality. These elements provide an excellent context for an inquiry-based project. The goal of the educational program is to provide opportunities for a younger audience to learn about the issues and opportunities of brownfields reclamation. This project demonstrates that creative inquiry can be translated and developed for a younger audience, classroom teachers and families. Young people are an important but often missing voice when communities discuss issues that affect them. Young people have an intellectual flexibility which can encourage communities to consider alternatives. Our task is not only to educate but also to guide students in their role as life long learners and involved citizens.

* Brownfields are post-industrial sites. They are the places that have been abandoned by steel and other industries. They are often best described in comparison to greenfields. Greenfields are undeveloped lands like fields and forests, which are often beyond the suburban edge. Redeveloping brownfields reinforces the function of cities and takes development pressure off forests and farms. There are many current and former brownfields properties in Pennsylvania.