In the News
MƒA Master Teacher and 2024 Muller Award for Professional Influence in Education winner Elisa Margarita was featured in a Chalkbeat New York “How I Teach” profile where she discusses how she turns her AP Environmental Science and Science Research classrooms into "living laboratories."
Inside the lab, we have a trout tank where we study biodiversity, watersheds, and water quality from the moment we receive the trout eggs until we release the fingerling trout in the spring upstate.
Students also built and maintained a miniature ecosystem for three months, tracing the cycling of materials. The lab features “Big,” a 400-gallon aquaponic system mimicking a riparian zone, and a 50-gallon bog representing New York City’s pre-paved conditions, featuring marsh plants like the purple pitcherplant. We also have a pond where the water has never been changed and has no man-made filter yet continually tests pristine because the plants are doing all the cleaning.
We extend learning to Fort Greene Park, Greene Community Garden, and the school building itself. We conduct soil, water, and air quality samples inside and outside the building, assess biodiversity in Fort Greene Park, and study the impact of climate change on urban trees. We house a variety of organisms, like a snake, gecko, stick bugs, and guinea pigs, to further engage students in real-world science.