Franklin Elementary School Outreach Event

Franklin, CT ​​

A group of graduate students from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut took science on the road with an independently organized outreach visit to Franklin Elementary School. We wanted to bring excitement and curiosity about the natural world into the classroom, and to show how ecology and evolution connect to everyday life.

We spent the day with 3rd and 4th-grade students, teaching them about environmental and feeding adaptations in animals, and how food webs tie ecosystems together. The kids had the chance to learn about—and in some cases, meet!—a wide range of organisms, from insects and birds to plants, parasites, bats, sharks, plankton, and of course, herps! (aka amphibians and reptiles).

Their enthusiasm was contagious. It was a fantastic day of hands-on learning, curiosity, and a few squeals of delight.