Historic Places, Green Spaces

Dade Heritage Trust’s Historic Places, Green Spaces program was launched in 2017 and takes students K-12 on half-day field trips to historic sites located in Lummus Park. So far, over 3,000 students and about 200 teachers have participated in the program. The purpose of the program is to engage students with historic, cultural, and recreational places with hands-on learning techniques and get them interested in historic and environmental preservation.

In November 2018, students began visiting a site in Brickell Bay drive. So far 17 tours have been led with about 680 students participating. The students go to the historic medical office of Dr. James M. Jackson to learn about the history of early medicine and Florida before going to Biscayne Bay, where they participate in an educational walk along the Bay to provide views of open water and marine activity.

Miami Waterkeeper has partnered with Dade Heritage Trust to introduce students to the Bay, its marine life, and the importance of caring for our surrounding waters. We aided in creating lesson plans for the water quality testing lessons for students K-12 that were in line with the state standards for science for each age group. Students use earth echo kits to test water quality in Biscayne Bay and act as citizen scientists as they take data on the water samples provided. Earth echo kits include: sample collection jars, pH test tubes, dissolved oxygen vials, pH and dissolved oxygen tablets, Secchi disk decals, and color charts for determining dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity test results. Once the results are taken from each group of students, it doesn’t go to waste! All of the data is uploaded to a global online database used by students water quality data from all around the World.

Interested in bringing your students to this unique field trip where the worlds of historic Miami and environmental Miami collide? Contact School Programs Manager at Dade Heritage Trust, Lucia Meneses at [email protected]