Educational trip Teacher and students learn hands-on

      A few weeks ago, on a field trip to the refuge, Monika Galvan and her students were not too fond of Malcolm. Some of the girls were afraid of cats and he nearly tried to jump in Galvan's backpack while she was doing some water-sample collecting. But Malcolm was a minor problem to be overcome during an educational and fun day with a devoted teacher.
      Galvan, a South Side High School science teacher for 18 years and a Wantagh native, took six of nine students from her Long Island Resources class on the trip. They convened in the nature center at about 9:30 a.m. and the learning began right away.
      The students were asked to identify the various stuffed birds that were hanging around the center, including a Horned Owl. They discussed limnology, the study of water, specifically the water cycle on Long Island and the important part the refuge plays in our water supply.
      The students in Long Island Resources usually don't gravitate toward science and may even be in danger of failing the regents. The class usually has some special education inclusion students, but due to scheduling conflicts there are none this year. Galvan created the curriculum for the class and has been teaching it for about nine years.
       Galvan, who is married to Dr. Max Galvan for 38 years, hopes to give her students a base in Earth Science, some practical, hands-on experience and self-confidence.
      After the nature center, the students began a hike though the refuge, studying nature and collecting water samples from the Old Ice Pond. The class, along with the refuge's environmental educator, Ron Gelardi, made it's way through a variety of habitats including the rare dwarf pine barrens, bogs, fields and forests.
      During the nearly three mile hike, Galvan asked her students to identify trees according to their leaves, bark and pinecones. She also had sophomore Dwayne Fielder take a soil sample from a small cranberry bog. The trip counts as a lab and the students are expected to participate and answer questions in order to get points toward a grade.
      It seems like saturation, she said but you'd be surprised how much they remember. Remembering is important because they will have a written test back at school.
      I learned a lot of stuff about deer and trees, walking through the woods, said Fielder.
      Galvan, a mother of five and grandmother of 10, does her best to keep students interested. She will rephrase and/or simplify her questions if they can't answer.
      In order to explain the make-up of water molecules, she had the students join hands as hydrogen and oxygen.
      She also brought treats along on the hike. If you want a good trip, you bring coffee, hot chocolate [and] munchkins. They appreciate it, she said.
      Some unique plant life interested the students, like pitcher plants, green pitcher-shaped plants that eat insects, and the prickly pear, a cactus native to Long Island. Gelardi also gave the kids a leaf of skunk cabbage to smell, and they agreed with wrinkled noses and sounds of disgust that skunk was definitely an appropriate name for the plant.
      The students also saw a variety of animals. They were able to observe a turtle sunning himself on a rock and Gelardi pointed out deer tracks, deer runs and even the bones of a deer. At the Distressed Wildlife Complex, they saw a female bobcat, which some of the girls took a liking to, and a bald eagle, which had only one wing.
      The hurt animals helped students to see the effect humans have on the environment. I like to tie it in environmentally, said Galvan, but not fanatically.
      She also discusses with her class some of the ways they can impact the environment with leaking cars and pets who are not spayed.
      The teens also asked questions, like how long it takes birds to build their nests and they even started pointing out plants, like cranberries and bearberries to each other.
      All the questions you ever had about how things were created it's all scientific, said sophomore Juliana Hernandez.
      The group began to make its way back to the nature center for lunch and then home on the bus. They made a right off the trail, towards the pond to take one last water sample. Hey, that looks like Malcolm, shouted a student, pointing to a black shape further down the banks. He lifted up his binoculars to make a closer inspection, Nope, just a tree trunk.
      A black cat crossing their path did not jinx this field trip.