Historic Downtown Campus 6th Graders Explore Jacobsburg State Park as Mathematicians, Historians, and Ecologists

Historic Downtown Campus sixth graders took part in a multidisciplinary field trip to Jacobsburg State Park, where they stepped into the roles of mathematicians, historians, and ecologists to explore the land from multiple angles.

Working as mathematicians, students set out to answer a practical question: could this land have supported a settlement? To find out, they measured the flow rate of the creek by setting up a testing zone and timing how long it took a ball to travel between two points five meters apart. From there, they calculated the creek's flow rate and volume, key factors in determining whether the water could sustain both wildlife and human activity.

As historians, students researched the area's original settlers, who arrived in 1808. They identified historical buildings and traced the lives of the families who once worked the land as farmers and forge workers, long before Jacobsburg became a state park.

Rounding out the day as ecologists, students studied the health of the Bushkill Creek watershed by collecting and identifying aquatic organisms living in the water. Their findings pointed to relatively low pollutant levels, confirming that the creek remains a healthy habitat for aquatic life.