For an hour on Feb. 13, the swimming pool at the Comfort Suites in Burlington transformed into a testing ground for underwater robots designed to tackle plastic pollution. Groups of engineers used remote controls to test their prototypes of subsea operation vessels (SOVs), watching as they dove, turned, backed up, and scooped up debris meant to represent the microplastics that pollute the Salish Sea.
The engineers only had an hour to test their creations before they had to climb back into the yellow school bus and return to La Conner Elementary School. Surprised? Don’t be. The fifth graders in Christi Malcomson’s reading class may have only had a week to build their machines, but they knew what they were doing.
“Our SOV is making it possible to pick up trash at all levels of the water” to reduce the amount of waste in the nearby waterways, explained Harper Voorhees, 10. “Kids at La Conner Elementary rely a lot on the ocean for things like fishing and crabbing, but our ecosystem was not made for human debris. It ruins the environment and is unhealthy for life.”
Hands-on science, real-world impact
Led by reading and writing teacher Christi Malcolmson, this hands-on project is part of the Culturally Responsive Elementary Science Teaching (CREST) education program, supported by a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant to Western Washington University. CREST is dedicated to advancing equitable science education for young learners, inspiring the next generation of innovators and problem-solvers.
The La Conner School District is the only district in the Skagit Valley piloting the program, and the teachers chose the SOV lesson because it was the most complex to learn. They needn’t have worried.
“The students went from not knowing what was going on to considering themselves engineers in the course of the week,” Malcomson said. “The kids had a blast and they were coming up with new solutions even after we left.”
Teaching with a sense of place
Although Malcomson doesn’t regularly teach science, she took a training in “Science and the Swinomish” curriculum a few years ago and was impressed by the relevance to her students’ lives.
“We think it would resonate with all the kids in the La Conner community,” she said, adding that town life is very marine based. “The channel is important to us. All families in La Conner are touched by the ocean.”
Blending tradition with innovation
The week before the SOV module, the fifth graders visited a creek to learn about salmon streams and lifecycles. The teachers bookended the lesson by sharing the story “Salmon Boy: A Legend of the Sechelt People” and discussing Salish formline art, a lesson created by Swinomish Master Carver Kevin Paul.
“Our role is to mesh traditional knowledge with the mainstream understanding of science. It’s a work in progress,” Malcomson said. “When you have diversity, it’s a challenge for teachers to represent all ways of seeing the world. We can’t ignore our own upbringing, but we can be open. The more we can be open to other ways of seeing, the better we can teach our unique population.”
Young engineers at work
Dr. Jesus Perez, who is part of the CREST program and teaches bilingual fifth graders science at West View Elementary School in the Burlington-Edison School District, was on hand to help at the Comfort Suites pool. He pointed to the children’s activity guide, “Explore the Salish Sea,” as a useful tool for teaching children about their immediate environment and weaving in indigenous knowledge.
“I want my students to have hands-on experience with the environment around them,” he said.
Nearby, Voorhees fiddled intently with the PVC pipes, electrical and duct tape, batteries, propellers, and pool noodles that made up her invention. Her team set it in the water and watched it dive to the bottom of the pool.
“We started learning about the project on Monday, started prototyping on Tuesday, and today is our main work day,” explained Voorhees, who intends to be a teacher, artist, or an engineer. “We have this opportunity to use real electronics that aren’t just a computer program.”
