Ohio River Foundation

Our River Explorer and Mussels in the Classroom programs work with schools by enhancing STEM learning while developing student interest in the environment and in conservation careers.

River Explorer - River Explorer is an innovative, inquiry based, outdoor learning-lab that provides experiential, activity-based environmental focused STEM education about the Ohio River and its watershed. Using nets, live specimens, and field grade equipment, students are junior scientists for the day and learn about the ecology and importance of the Ohio River, its tributaries, and watershed. Classes are taught in and along the rivers, streams, and creeks in the watershed; in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Mussels in the Classroom - As the first classroom-based mussel education program in the US (maybe the world!), teachers use MIC to strengthen the real world connections that teachers seek to reinforce science curricula and help students better understand the complexity of aquatic environments. The MIC program comprises the following: An in-classroom visit from ORF education staff with freshwater mussel collateral and shells that involves a 45-minute classroom hands-on learning experience. Students learn about the importance of mussels to an ecosystem, their life cycle, and their current status in the environment. The class is then provided an aquarium and the necessary equipment to maintain and monitor their visiting mussels. Teachers and schools can elect to have tanks and mussels for 2 to 5 weeks.