While Mark Cuban was nowhere to be found, sixth-graders at Nate Perry Elementary School presented their best and brightest ideas for a Beaver Lake Nature Center project in a “Shark Tank”-esque contest last week.
Students in NPE’s three sixth grade homerooms were shuffled into 14 teams of four and tasked with creating a proposal that would integrate technology into visitors’ experiences at Beaver Lake. After a visit to the nature center and two and a half weeks of planning, the teams pitched their projects to a panel of school officials and Beaver Lake representatives on Feb. 10.
“The partnership has been exciting,” said Dana Ziegler, NPE principal and panel member. “[The project] will be their legacy.”
The panel chose to blend elements from several groups’ proposals for a technology project that is expected to launch this spring.
“It actually took us a while to get [through] to them that this is not a mock project — this is a real thing,” NPE sixth-grade teacher Andrew Dionne said.
The young innovators had to be mindful of five criteria for their presentations: durability, ease of construction, display of environmental information, aesthetic appeal and finances. Most proposals came in well under the $500 budget the students were given to consider.
Many of the groups suggested Beaver Lake incorporate QR codes into its nature trails. Students used online QR code generators to link information about wildlife at Beaver Lake to scannable matrix barcode images. Visitors with smartphones can download a variety of free apps to read the QR codes.
Maegen Riegelman said her group’s proposal featured laminated QR codes affixed to trees with wire. She estimated the total cost of their project at $30.
“It’s $2 per QR code for lamination,” Riegelman said, adding that the wire cost $17.88.
Riegelman and her fellow group member, Ahmire Brinson, spoke to the project’s durability.
“It’ll be up high so animals won’t get it,” Brinson said.
“We tested it with water, snow, heat and wind,” Riegelman said.
In addition to the many incarnations of QR codes suggested, one group drew up plans for webcams hidden in clay eggs so visitors can watch wildlife from afar. Gabriella Underwood said a Beaver Lake staff member could narrate the goings-on from the visitors’ center — “kind of like a human information station.”
Underwood said balancing the criteria of the project was a challenge.
“You have to put everything into consideration,” she said. “You can’t just say, ‘This is a good idea; we should do it.’”
One group kept visitors without smartphones in mind. The students dreamed up an audio tour accessible via a phone number.
Meg Valovage, a Beaver Lake naturalist who sat on the judges’ panel, said many of the proposals fell in line with the nature center’s future plans, which include an overhaul of the visitors’ center.
“This is all stuff we had wanted to do anyways, and our Friends [of Beaver Lake] group is behind it,” Valovage said. “We just got an audio system with a microphone and speakers so we can hear the birds.”
Tony Vertrucci, co-chair of the education committee for the Friends of Beaver Lake, said the students did a good job balancing the use of technology — often an “indoors” field — with the great outdoors of Beaver Lake.
“There’s lots of ways of combining all the ideas and still not take away from the nature center,” Vertrucci said.
While the students seemed excited at the prospect of seeing their proposals become reality, their teachers said the Beaver Lake “Shark Tank” project meant more than that.
“They’re learning to be professionals and how to take projects seriously, interact with adults and collaborate,” teacher Emily Casamento said.
Ziegler asked each group what they learned most from the project. Many students answered that they learned how to manage their time wisely and how to work as a team.
“Teamwork is very important,” Kahyla Johnson said.
Valovage said the students seemed “wise beyond their years” in their presentations.
“Their ideas were excellent and their enthusiasm, too,” she said. “Seeing them in the nature center and here in their element was a good feeling.”
Steven Garaffo, executive director of elementary education for the Liverpool Central School District, said he was impressed by the students’ presentations.
“I think we saw a glimpse of the future,” he said.
