From books to bays, students in Fairfax are getting their education, in a different kind of way.

“Actually at first, I was not that interested in science. But then like we started doing these projects in school and then I was like, this is really interesting and I want to try more of this,” said William, a student at Daniels Run elementary school. 

“It made me more interested just because we got to do some hands on experiences with this instead of inside the classroom just learning about it. So it is really nice to be able to know what we are doing to help the environment instead of being told about it,” said another student.

These students are helping the world by not only learning, but helping save the Chesapeake Bay and their environment.

“We are finding macro invertebrates in the creek and before a while ago we did that and we figured that upstream where the creek was cleaner there were more and down here there are not many, because the water is more polluted,” said William. 

Lorie Huberman Hayes, a teacher who runs the program at Daniels Run elementary school says a hands on experience means smarter and more interested citizen scientists.

“It’s doing science and it is real for students. They are actually making an impact. They are finding out whether or not the Daniels Run stream is polluted. They are able to report it to Fairfax County to say hey, our water is polluted and so they are actually not just learning about it but they are being scientists in real life,” said Hayes.

“Step by step, the environment is going to be way better if we keep doing this kind of thing,” William said.