Dive Brief:

• A one-day trip to the Elwha River allows Washington's Port Angeles middle school students to conduct environmental experiments in a real-world setting. This spring, first- and second-graders made trips to also conduct scientific research.
• By collecting and analyzing data, state standards are taught in a hands-on method that middle school teachers say facilitates greater understanding.
• Student reports, complete with charts and graphics are sent to scientists are Olympic Natural Park.  

Dive Insight:

The field trip to the river began about a decade ago. Officials say the students enjoy the outing, and test scores reflect their engagement. At Stevens Middle School, students score 87% on the state science assessment, beating the state average by a whopping 25 percentage points.