A River Through Time
A collaboration with the Clinton Public Schools, Clinton, Massachusetts.
Overview
Through A River through Time, Clinton residents and school teachers are working on projects which will allow students and others in the community to gain a better understanding and appreciation of their town and the river that runs through it.
Summary
Since early 1998 the EcoTarium and the Clinton Public Schools, together with the Nashua River Watershed Association, the Bigelow Library, and the Clinton Historical Society have been working on an innovative education partnership centered on the Nashua River Valley in Clinton. With support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, we are continuing to explore the human and ecological histories of the Nashua river and develop educational projects and interpretive programs for the Clinton Middle School as well as the local community.
Teachers from the Clinton Middle School and community residents have organized several projects to develop educational materials focused on the Nashua River in Clinton, including lesson plans, learning activities, and field studies. During the first year of the project, participants began work on four projects which will allow students and others in the community to gain a better understanding and appreciation of their town and the river that runs through it. Each project explores a specific part of the ecological and community histories of Clinton and will develop lesson plans, resource materials, and walking tours for Middle School students and others in the community. Information on these projects is available on the River Through Time web site.
The four projects now underway include:
- The River Runs Through It, a study of how the landscapes and neighborhood around the Lancaster Mill complex have changed since the 17th century when Nipmuc Indian people fished the falls there. A walking tour and printed guide are planned as are some events at the Clinton Historical Society.
- Nipmuc Indians and the Nashua River, in which curriculum materials and learning activities are being developed and used in Middle School classrooms. The goal here is to introduce students to the long-term histories of Nipmuc homelands and communities along the Nashua and to explore how the Nipmuc and colonists lived and worked together in the 1600s.
- Latino Immigrants Come to Clinton is another Middle School project, in which students will learn about the histories of Latino immigration to New England, the worlds and communities that were left behind, and the experience of living and working in a new town.
- Clinton's Neighborhoods and the Local Ecologies of the Nashua River is an interdisciplinary study of the ecological histories of Coachlace Pond and the water quality of the Nashua River in Clinton. Students in science and history classes will conduct biological and chemical studies of the pond while exploring how the neighborhoods around the pond have developed and changed since the early 1900s.
Eventually these projects, including samples of student work, will be developed into a web site that can be used by community members and educators from Clinton and beyond.
See the Massachusetts DOE profile for the Clinton Public Schools.