Simpson County STLP

Simpson Elementary students’ query about their wet playground leads to learning 

Kentucky School Advocate
December 2018

By Brenna R. Kelly
Staff writer

It hasn’t rained in Simpson County for days, but there’s standing water outside Simpson Elementary. Water is pooled near the side door and has made the ground near the jungle gym a muddy mess. 

Inside, students at the first- through third-grade school are coming up with ways to fix their school’s water woes. 

“This is all based on the question of, ‘Why can’t we use the playground when it’s sunny out?’” said Library Media Specialist Sam Northern. Students asked the question so often that Northern decided to challenge them to not only find the answer, but a solution. 

Last school year, students in an after-school project-based learning program took on the water problem as their project. This year, the quest for dry land continues.

“Our school was built in an area that kind of created a swamp, so we have to figure out a way to absorb the water so that we can use the entire area,” Northern told students gathered in the library for the first Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) meeting of the year. 

Questions lead to solutions 
In STLP, a Kentucky Department of Education program, students identify a need or problem in their school or community and then use technology to find and implement a solution. The student-led projects also allow students to demonstrate leadership and communication skills as they compete at district, regional and state competitions. 

“They are learning to ask questions and then collect information that is going to help them get background knowledge on the topic so that they can come up with potential solutions,” Northern said. 

This past school year, students researched watersheds, used a 360-degree camera to take pictures of the wet playground, programmed a 3D printer to create a topographic map of the school and embedded multimedia content into a presentation. 

 

In January, the students presented findings to the Simpson County school board where they explained that the wet ground is the result of the school building being in a low-lying area and blocking water from reaching a creek.

“These were first, second and third graders telling the school board, not what needs to be done, because they don’t know the factors that deal with budgets and what’s up to code, but they do now know what’s happening and why it’s happening,” Northern said. “Presenting the information can help the people in the position to make the decisions make the right ones.” 

After the students’ presentation, Simpson County Schools built a retaining wall on one side of the school to hold back the water that was creeping toward a hallway door, Northern said. 

“The students were able to talk to the board about the topography and we think this led to action with the new wall,” he said. 

This year the STLP students will research what trees, shrubs and grasses could be planted to absorb some of the standing water and hopefully help the playground stay dry. 

 

Where the water goes
During the meeting, Northern and second-grade teacher Triscilla Harding helped the students from last year’s team explain their work to the newcomers.

“You can see the high areas and low areas,” Harding said as she passed around the 3D-printed model of the terrain. “So can you see where our school sits? Right in the middle of a dip.”

The water tries to flow to the seasonal creek, but the building blocks the way, she explained. 

 

is helping his students find a solution. Last year, the district installed a retaining wall to hold back the water. 

To help students understand watersheds, Michelle Estes, Simpson County Conservation District operations manager, brought a large tabletop model of a landscape. 

The model called an EnviroScape includes fields, neighborhoods, creeks, lakes, roads, cars, factories and farms. 

“When rain falls or the snow melts, where does it go?” Estes asked the students. “Where does the water stop and, on its journey, what does it take with it?” 

Estes then directed the students to sprinkle simulated pollution on the EnviroScape. Students shook chocolate sprinkles representing manure onto the fields and red Kool-Aid to represent fertilizer onto lawns around the neighborhoods. They shook party sprinkles representing trash and coco powder mixed with water representing oil leaking from a car. 

When the surface was full of “pollution” it was time for a downpour. 

“We are going to have a rainfall event,” Estes said. “I want you all to make it rain.” 

The students grabbed spray bottles and aimed. The falling water carried the simulated pollution across the landscape and into drains, creeks and lakes. 

“All the red stuff is getting all the way over here,” a student pointed out. 

The students repeated part of the experiment, but with strips of grass to stop the pollution from reaching the bodies of water. 

“A filter strip is where we plant more grasses and shrubs, and we just leave them to slow down the nutrients and stuff that is coming off of here,” Estes said. 

 

Drinking up the water
Northern then asked the students what they learned from the experiment.

“What’s something that we took away that we can apply to our school and what’s going on with the water issue and the playground being wet?” he said.

A similar filter strip is planted in areas where the water pools could help with the school’s water problem. Estes told the students to try to find plants that thrive in wet conditions. 

“There are grasses, trees and shrubs that absolutely love water,” she said. “They love it and they will drink lots and lots of water.” 

 

The Soil and Water Conservation District plans to work with the Simpson Elementary students and Franklin-Simpson High School’s FFA group to plant vegetation in the wet areas, she said. 

The water-logged areas could become gardens where students could learn even more about the environment, Northern said. 

“We want to get plants and flowers and maybe some pollinators and the kids could maintain that,” he said. “Maybe that can be our next STLP project.”

Board view: Eager students surprised board

When first- through third-grade students presented their ideas to fix water problems at their school at a Simpson County Board of Education meeting, board member Heidi Estes (right) could tell they were nervous. 

After all, the students were presenting in front of a crowd and cameras. 

“I think that there was a certain amount of stage fright involved with that presentation, but they were so eager,” she said. “They were very confident in their solution.” 

Seeing the district’s students use project-based learning to solve a problem at their school was just the kind of authentic learning the district emphasizes, Estes said. 

“There’s no substitute for something like that,” she said. “It actively engages them in their school community and just trying to find a solution. I just really feel like there’s no better way.” 

While Estes said the board was already aware of the standing water issues at Simpson Elementary, the students surprised the members with their solution of planting water-loving vegetation. 

“We had never considered that,” she said. “They just thought completely differently, and I thought that was pretty amazing.” 

She said the solution fits well with one of Franklin Simpson High School’s strengths – its horticulture program. 

“We’re in a very agricultural community so FFA is participating and the high school horticulture group is participating with their greenhouse,” she said. 

While the students impressed Estes with the content they learned during the project, Estes said they clearly learned essential skills such as “public speaking, how to put together a presentation and teamwork.

“Those are all skills in addition to the project that you might not normally think about,” she said.

 

The Road to Rupp 

Each spring more than 9,000 students, educators and parents fill Rupp Arena and the Lexington Convention Center for the Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) State Championship. Last year, students from 460 Kentucky schools and 115 districts competed in one or more of 50 event categories.

During the event, students display more than 550 projects in Heritage Hall where they wait for the judges in hopes of being named Best in State. Elsewhere, nearly 300 Digital Product finalists in 19 different arts and STEM-related categories are scored. Students also compete in 26 on-site live performance categories such as coding, game design, robot programming, engineering, podcasting and media arts production. 

Before making it to Lexington, students compete in district and regional events. This year, students from 110 districts and 496 schools have registered to attend the nine regional showcases throughout November and December. That number represents an 8 percent increase from 2017.

Five Regional Showcase events are scheduled across the state in December. The events are open to the public between 10 a.m. and noon local time. 

The events are: 

• Dec. 4: Bowling Green – Western Kentucky University, E.A. Diddle Arena;

• Dec. 5: Richmond – Eastern Kentucky University, virtual event; 

• Dec. 6: Lexington – University of Kentucky, Gatton Student Center;

• Dec. 11: Pikeville – East Kentucky Expo Center;

• Dec. 13: Somerset: The Center for Rural Development.

The 2019 State Championships, which are also open to the public, will be held on April 18 in Lexington.