On May 29, ASTM International sponsored a field rip for first grade students from Bridgeport Elementary School in the Upper Merion School District to Riverbend Environmental Education Center in Gladwyne, Pa.

Activities during the visit included a pond and stream lesson with live animals as well as stream and pond exploration, which coincided with the students’ current classroom science lessons.

Riverbend Environmental Education Center provides hands-on and interactive educational programs for students from pre-K through the eighth grade. These lessons, which address Pennsylvania Department of Education standards for science and technology and environment and ecology, range from animal adaptations to watersheds

Approximately 45% of the 8,500 students who visit Riverbend each year come from urban areas that have limited access to natural spaces. Donations from local organizations like ASTM International make these trips possible, and the number of visits has increased more than 300% in recent years.

In the photo, Bridgeport Elementary first graders search for tadpoles along a stream at Riverbend with Kimberly Simms, Manager of Global Cooperation at ASTM International (back row, second from left).

ASTM PR Contact: Erin Brennan, Phone: 610-832-9602; ebrennan@astm.org

Release #9393