Program on the Environment

Hatcheries are crucial supporting factors to local communities and as such, can be used as an educational tool. My main goal while working at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery in the Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) Summer Camp Program was to use informal environmental education through a variety of different activities to increase knowledge of the summer camp attendees. Through this experience, I was able to identify the learning activities and techniques that were most impactful on the campers by observing the students and their progress through the camp. The campers ranged in age from three to twelve years old, which allowed my site supervisor, Pepper, and I to create the activities based around their learning stage. I categorized my results into five categories of techniques that were most useful: Inquirybased learning, observation, hands-on learning, game-based learning, and reflection. Through my time at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, I also observed how the hatchery was able to balance their educational outreach while prioritizing the fish production. They were able to accomplish this because of the motivation and passion of the hatchery employees taking time out of their day to teach the campers about their jobs and to answer their questions. The overall significance of this research is that informal education centers are a way for people to be more involved in their communities while helping the environment. Therefore, this research increases awareness and provides results for informal education centers along with feedback for the FISH program.