EDWARDSVILLE – As the Beet Box traveled to local communities and food deserts this summer, it not only made available healthy, delicious veggies, but also learning kits that inspired youth, primarily students in middle and early high school, to become environmental health investigators and citizen scientists.
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Through a partnership with the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville STEM Center, the mobile farmer’s market offered the kits during its routine weekly stops in Fairmount City and Madison.
“This partnership came to fruition after the STEM Center reached out to members of the Goshen Community Market Board, and the two organizations saw this as a mutually beneficial opportunity,” said Carol Colaninno, PhD, research assistant professor in the SIUE STEM Center. “The STEM Center helped provide education content on the environment, ways to use the environment to make healthy food, and nutrition, while the Beet Box distributed that supplemental educational content to its patrons.”
The STEM kits were produced as part of two ongoing, externally funded initiatives led by the STEM Center. The Environmental Health Investigators project is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from its Science Education Partnerships Award (SEPA). The Youth-Led Citizen Science Network for Community Environmental Assessment (Y-CITYSCI) is funded by the National Science Foundation.
“The Y-CITYSCI program allows students the opportunity to engage in authentic science experiences through citizen science applications,” said Colannino. “Environmental Health Investigators introduces students to various environmental concerns that affect human health. Then, students learn how they can develop solutions to environmental problems using local scientific data.”
“Our goal for the Beet Box partnership was to provide educational materials directly to students in Madison County that help them learn more about everyday science in their own community,” Colaninno added. “We also hoped that the kits and activities would engage them in science learning during these uncertain times when formal education is a little more challenging for students and their parents. These tools aim to get students outdoors and exploring their environments to more fully understand how they can contribute to science, and how they can make a difference in their community.”
“We are grateful to the Goshen Market Foundation for helping us bring STEM education to Madison County families,” said Sharon Locke, PhD, STEM Center director. “The Beet Box is an incredible resource in the region, and we hope this partnership will increase the public’s awareness of both organizations. By working together, we are expanding opportunities for youth to be empowered to contribute to positive change.”
The four Environmental Health Investigator kits explore the relationship between soil and food:
Garden Starter: Grow vegetables from seeds
Garden Soil Quality: Test soil quality in a planned garden plot.
Nutrition: Learn nutritional properties of vegetables in the garden starter kit and make tasty snacks
Seasonal Garden Kits: Plant a garden to match the seasons
The four Y-CITYSCI kits help learners become scientists and share their data using a variety of citizen science apps:
Spider Spotter: Photograph spiders and their webs
Cicada Safari: Take photos, sound recordings and observations of cicadas
iNaturalist: Collect information about local plants and animals
GLOBE Observer: Take photos of local fields and parks to understand how people use land and how it changes over time
SIUE STEM Center Graduate Assistant Xander Kalna received positive feedback while helping distribute the educational kits, noting comments such as, “I have a grandchild that loves plants and science!” and “My daughter loves learning about geography and satellites, so she will love reading about this.”
All of the environmental health investigator and citizen science activities, not the full kits themselves, are available for download at SIUESTEMCenter.org/ environmental-health- investigators and SIUESTEMCenter.org/ycitysci.
The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Center for STEM Research, Education and Outreach comprises an independent group of researchers and educators, innovating ways to engage students and the public in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Within the SIUE Graduate School, the Center brings together research faculty, graduate students and practitioners to conduct education research. The Center contributes educational expertise to SIUE undergraduate classes and provides professional development for K-12 teachers. The Center boasts a significant library of equipment and resources, which are available for loan at no cost to campus and regional instructors. For more information, visit https://www.siue.edu/stem/ or contact STEM Center Director Sharon Locke at (618) 650-3065 or stemcenter@siue.edu.
