River's End STEM Education Program

K-12 STEAM education

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Last year, we conducted a survey of over 350 science educators in which 68% expressed a desire for programming that would allow their students to work directly with real scientists. Our new River's End STEM Program is designed to immerse students in field research and lab analysis alongside scientists from Algalita and Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research. Additionally, unlike other areas of Los Angeles, Long Beach lacks informal ocean education programs that take place in our actual local environment. Our program aims to help students see beyond the urban appearance of our marine ecosystems and experience the beauty of the flora and fauna that often goes unnoticed. Another issue we aim to address is that many students in Los Angeles County have never even seen our local marine ecosystems in person. We would be honored to be the stewards of this first-time experience for those who have never been.

Algalita’s NEW River's End STEM Program will be the first down-stream education program to exist for the San Gabriel River. During the 2024/25 academic year, we aim to facilitate field experiences for approximately 500 public middle and high school students from Title 1 campuses in Los Angeles County – all expenses paid. During these one-day field experiences, participants will learn about the history of the San Gabriel Watershed, including the stories shared directly from indigenous people of this region. They will also explore a newly constructed native plant park, that includes a 40’x40’ ground-inlayed San Gabriel Watershed map we’ve planned several activities around. Participants will also collect microplastics samples from the beach, test water quality with test kits, conduct sediment grabs from the river to investigate microorganism, and embark on a 30-min Waterbike ride pulling plankton/plastic trawls along the way. All of the samples collected in the field will then be taken back to our research and learning center to be analyzed by the students and teachers alongside real researchers using state-of-the-art scientific equipment.

Our River’s End STEM programming will be the first-of-its-kind in Los Angeles County. Last year, we opened a brand-new plastic pollution research and learning center at the end of the San Gabriel River in Long Beach, CA. Our new Center allows us to offer both field and lab experiences for students and educators aimed at sparking a deep appreciation for our local marine environments. Their hands-on experiences with marine life, ecosystems, and conservation efforts will lead to education that’s meaningful and transformational – potentially motivating them to pursue further education and careers within STEM.
An important aspect of our program is how we don’t shy away from the realities of urbanization and human impact on our marine environment, rather we help students understand how our natural systems here in Los Angeles are beautiful in their unique ways. This approach is meant to spark a sense of pride for our urban ocean, leading to a passion for protecting its resilient ecosystems.

We will use a suite of different techniques to capture our impact including surveys, testimonials, capturing stories via interviews, snapping photos, and creating a series of programmatic videos that bring our work to life. We will also keep close observations of hands-on activities, teaching methods, and student engagement to better understand qualitative data about our program's effectiveness. Reviewing student field workbooks and reflections will also provide a comprehensive view of a student's progress and development.
Anticipated outcomes include 90% of participating students report:
an increase in awareness and knowledge of local environmental issues.
a greater feeling of connection to nature.
increased awareness of careers in environmental fields.
they've gained a deeper understanding of environmental concepts, issues, and the interconnections between human actions and the environment.

Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research (MIPPR) is our sister organization that we share our research and learning center with. Scientists at MIPPR will assist students while they analyze their own microplastics and water quality test samples. MIPPR will facilitate use of research equipment and will also provide group tours of their CA State Accredited microplastics laboratory.