The Secondary School Field Research Program (SSFRP) is a project-based instructional program focused on biodiversity and environmental research in wetlands of the New York metropolitan area. We work primarily with science teachers and students from “non-exam” public high schools. The Program currently serves approximately 10 teachers, 15 undergraduates and 65 high school students each year. We operate as a partnership between the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and participating schools, which recently has included The Young Women’s Leadership Schools, The U.A. New York Harbor School, Curtis High School, and Frederick Douglass Academy I, Bronx Latin, and the Bronx Center for Science and Math.
The program starts with a course in wetlands science, one day a week after school on the Columbia campus. During the summer, students and teachers spend about 6 weeks working with Lamont scientists. We support teachers in increasing lab and field content in their classrooms. In the fall we give an after-school course in data analysis, using data from the summer research projects.
