Belleville Henderson teacher lives aboard Great Lakes research vessel in name of science

Jul. 13—BELLEVILLE — A Belleville Henderson Central School District science teacher who encourages hands-on experience for students is getting her own opportunity take part in participatory education.

Barbara Bibbins was one of 15 educators selected for a weeklong science workshop, hosted by New York Sea Grant, which took place this week onboard the Environmental Protection Agency's largest Great Lakes research vessel — the 180-foot-long Lake Guardian.

Bibbins's journey began in Rochester, where teachers from New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin all met on Thursday before boarding the Lake Guardian.

Nate Drag, NYSG's Great Lakes literary specialist, said the workshop "increases teachers' understanding of the Great Lakes' unparalleled value and fosters creation of personalized teaching resources to spark student interest in the world's largest surface freshwater system."

The workshop's mission aligns well with Bibbins's mission, which is to provide her students with lots of opportunities for hands-on, place-based learning.

Bibbins has already gained a reputation for going above and beyond for the sake of education, especially among her students. She said they like to tell her, "You're a star!," which she just shrugs off with a smile.

Some of Bibbins's popularity can be attributed to a unique classroom project which she leads at Bellville-Henderson. Every year, Bibbins receives a shipment of brook trout eggs from a hatchery in upstate New York, which she hatches and raises inside her science classroom.

"The students love watching how the fish develop over time," Bibbins said.

After the fish are grown, Bibbins releases them into the wild, where they become a small, but valuable, contribution to the fishery.

"There's usually about 300 trout. The only place around cold enough for brook trout is the Tug Hill Plateau, so that's where they are released," Bibbins said.

The equipment for such a project is expensive, requiring filtration devices and a chiller to keep the water cold and oxygenated for the sensitive fish. However, Bibbins was able to make it happen after she took part in the Master Teacher Program and was allocated grant money to put toward the project. For Bibbins, being onboard the Lake Guardian is a chance to develop more interactive projects, like raising trout.

"The opportunity to learn and look at the methods that scientists use — like what's out there and what they are doing right now," is one thing Bibbins said she will take away from the experience.

She also plans to "learn more about what's in the water column and what the ecology looks like on the lake and then take that back to the classroom."

One difficulty in the science field is preparing kids for the future and providing them with career goals.

"When you're talking about science, kids often have a very narrow vision of what that means to be a scientist," Bibbins said. "There are so many people onboard here, so I can talk to the entire crew about what their job is."

People are working in a variety of careers onboard the Lake Guardian, from the researchers to the crew members who run the ship. Bibbins wants to bring awareness to these jobs in the classroom.

"I just think we don't have a big view of what's actually out there," she said.

Sometimes she is surprised by the jobs that she comes across.

"I can now tell my kids: 'Hey this is a thing! This is a job!' And I think that is great," she said.