U.S. Navy photo by Doug Davant Tom Palathra, a IHDIV chemical engineer, shows Southern Maryland students the differences in water. Palathra is the coordinator for NDEP.

—Clay P. Bedfordnoted industrialist

Creating curiosity in young minds, especially in pursuit of science, technology, engineering and math disciplines (STEM subjects), is the goal of the National Defense Education Program.

That goal was on full display recently in Charles County’s Chapel Point State Park as chemical engineers and scientists from the Indian Head Division (IHDIV) Naval Surface Warfare Center helped students from Spring Ridge Middle School learn more about how life sciences and technology can be used to help save the greater Chesapeake Bay.

Coordinating the event was Tom Palathra, a chemical engineer for IHDIV. He was joined by technical colleagues Wally Pannick, Heather Zdobysz, Dr. Jerry Forbes — all of whom work for the division’s Research (R) Department —and Kenny Seminuk, an intern student from the University of Maryland.

Also helping were volunteers from the Port Tobacco River Conservancy, the Charles Soil Conservation District, plus teachers and parents from the two schools.

The curricula for ‘‘Save the Bay,” in melding life sciences with robotics and STEM subjects, was designed by Dr. Ray Gamache, an IHDIV physicist and National Defense Education Program pioneer featured prominently on the NDEP home page in one of the program’s personal profiles.

‘‘Basically, what we did is work with teachers to create a relative challenge for students to use science and technology and later robotics, then relating it to the on-going Save the Bay campaign,” Gamache said. ‘‘The important thing was to grab the students while they were young to develop their curiosity for science and mathematics before they began to get into puberty ... and I believe that is the key because when you get them interested (in STEM) while they are young, it tends to stay with them.”

Accordingly, the IHDIV NSWC emphasis last week was on the 3rd, 5th and 7th graders as they went through hands-on demonstrations with scientific experts on how such things as agricultural fertilizers, soil runoff, pollution and other factors affect the bay and its tributaries.

Palathra, for example, showed students how water chemistry contrasted from the Port Tobacco River when compared to potable drinking sources as the engineer explained the how algae, when invigorated by fertilizers, can proliferate until it eventually creates a ‘‘dead zone” in creeks and streams choking off vital life-giving oxygen.

‘‘What we’re trying to do is get these students aware of the problems with the bay then tying them (to STEM subjects) as an approach to solving them,” Palathra said. ‘‘Today, they’ll also be seining for fish, conducting soil samples and doing a trash survey as they comb the beach for litter and debris,” said Pannick, who added that the school with the most trash collected would get an ice cream treat for their class, courtesy of IHDIV’s engineers, later this autumn.

The St. Mary’s County middle-school teachers on the field trip agreed that these kinds of demonstrations and mentoring by scientists more than augmented classroom science teaching.

‘‘This is invaluable as a learning tool,” said Spring Ridge Middle School science teacher Peg Johnson. ‘‘These students are getting the kind of hands-on outdoor instruction they cannot get in classes.”

Especially apparent was the fish seining. Using a 100-foot seine, Port Tobacco River Conservancy volunteers captured minnows and smaller fry for the students to examine then tried to identify with the use of a pictured handout. Among the species caught were bluefish, varieties of trout and bass, croaker, drum, catfish, and sunfish such as white and yellow perch.

Along with seining, students also used a soil auger to learn how to identify the different kinds of soils present in Southern Maryland.

Jerry Spence of the Charles Soil Conservation District showed the students the different profiles of soils found at the Chapel Point area and how they could affect water runoff to the bay.

‘‘This area is an ancient sea bed,” he said. ‘‘It is very good for growing crops as soil river sediments settled here long ago but also the water table here is close to the surface so we have to be careful about what we use on these soils.”

IHDIV’s contribution to the NDEP’s drive will continue throughout this academic year with the featured robotics contests slated for next spring.

Gamache said that there also is an after-school program planned for the greater Southern Maryland school districts in which volunteers will help mentor kids interested in pursuing STEM subjects.