Solomon-Plains Elementary School was awarded a $2,000 grant from PP&L’s Empowering Educators Grant Program. The grant allows 6th grade students at Solomon-Plains to take a watershed tour of abandoned mine lands and streams impacted by Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) within and near the Wilkes-Barre Area School District (WBSD).
The goal is to educate students about local environmental health and water quality issues, which have a direct impact on their neighborhoods and the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
Students will learn about AMD in our local watershed, the history on Anthracite coal mining, local organizations working to restore and reclaim abandoned mine lands in the region, and ways to recycle iron oxide, found in local waterways. They will also learn about solar energy and the solar kiln operation. In addition, the students will compare the use of electric energy from a standard electrical outlet to the solar energy of the kilns in drying iron oxide.
Following the tour, the students will help construct solar kilns, dry the recycled iron oxide inside those kilns, and create iron oxide chalk and tie-dye t-shirts. The kilns will be mobile, for easier movement throughout the WBSD. One kiln will be donated to EPCAMR for use in the office.
EPCAMR Executive Director, Robert Hughes will lead the project, with the assistance of EPCAMR Program Manager, Michael Hewitt, and WBSD Elementary Science Coordinator, Mike Corcoran. Mr. Corcoran and 6th grade science teachers, Amy Pascale and Holly Harowicz, will serve as advisors of the project.
