E-STEM in the Field

The Education Committee of IWLA-PCC plans and executes "E-STEM in the Field" programming for intermediate and middle-school level students from local schools from Porter and LaPorte counties.

With the 2019-2020 school year PCC started the program as funded by the NIPSCO Environmental Action Grant and funds from Izaak Walton's National and Indiana Division Endowment grants. During it's first year, PCC gave 300 kids a REAL field experience in water testing.

Following the Izaak Walton's "Save Our Streams" water testing protocol, participants don waders and floatation devices to get into the East Arm of the Little Calumet River along PCC's Frame Family Little Calumet Conservation Area. Groups collect samples, ID and count macroinvertebrates, do chemical testing on samples, analyze their findings and discuss things that could be done to maintain a healthy environment or fix an unhealthy one.

Since the start of the E-STEM in the Field program, we've served elementary, middle and high school groups as well as scouting and church groups.

*To schedule a field experience for your class, contact E-STEM coordinator, Annette Hansen at executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com

Programming is on-going and dates are being scheduled now for Spring, 2024.