GRAND FORKS, ND ( KXNET ) — From using sour lemons to create lights, to making place-based lessons at the river, students and teachers in North Dakota are finding ways to get more innovative with their education this summer.

Middle schoolers at the four-day University of North Dakota Exploring Chemistry Summer Camp were taught a number of experiments they can try at home.

One lesson they learned was how to make power lights using lemons and potatoes.

Students used zinc-coated nails and copper wire to connect about two dozen lemons and potatoes, generating energy in the process.

This is one of many experiments the students got to do at the camp, which included making double-forked pickles glow yellow, as well as creating elephant toothpaste.

The camp is led by Teaching Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Education Shaina Mattingly, who has been part of it since its inception in 2017.

“I absolutely love seeing the kids get enthusiastic and curious about everyday observations or even very simple and safe activities they can do in their kitchens at home,” Mattingly said. “It’s such a thrill to see them connect the chemistry of what’s going on in front of them to what they experience in the outside world. It always inspires me and motivates me. It reminds me of why I love my job.”

Anyone entering fifth through eighth grade was welcome to the camp.

Meanwhile, at the university’s second summer workshop for Project CuRRENT, regional teachers took to the river to try and come up with lesson plans to engage their students more.

Project CuRRENT, or Culturally Relevant River Education for Nature-Based Teaching, is a three-year program currently in year two. The program, designed to help teachers embed place-based learning into their curricula, is funded by the National Science Foundation and is a collaboration with Turtle Mountain Community College.

Almost 20 elementary school teachers got together at Eagle Point Trailhead near the junction of the Red and Red Lake rivers in East Grand Forks, where they would learn about the river and Native American history.

They started by plotting more than a dozen watersheds that feed into the Red River Basin.

To represent the waters from each watershed area coming together, the teachers poured samples from each into one large jar.

“We don’t have to go all the way to the rainforest to experience really fundamental ecological processes,” explained Joshua Hunter, project partner and UND associate professor of Education, Health & Behavior Studies. “By using a place-based approach to learning, we can dig into that one specific spot on the map and explore all the many ways we can understand it.”

The teachers later took a walk along the riverbank, and were encouraged to wonder about Native culture and forging their own connection with it.

They also learned about beavers, and even did an exercise where one of them dressed up as the furry animal.

Both the chemistry camp and Project CuRRENT workshop fostered hands-on learning and nature-based teaching, encouraging students and educators alike to explore their environment.

For parents looking to sign their kids up, the chemistry camp will take place again next July.

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