The project is a benefit to students in several ways. One way is that students discover the connection between the information in their textbooks and their own community. They are able to apply the principles they learn in the conventional classroom. They study in an atmosphere that is fun for them, and they do not always realize how much they have learned. In addition about 50 student assistants from the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades have been trained and have helped each year.
Some student assistants return after their graduation to assist.
An Augusta College Student preparing to teach middle school, a regular substitute teacher in our school, and parents have participated with the students on their trips to the river. The A.R. Johnson Rivers Project is an interdisciplinary study of water quality and the environment using the community as the classroom. It includes components of geography, history, economics, citizenship, technology, language arts, biology, botany, and chemistry. Using the one source for this study demonstrates how the world and our community is interrelated, and how all disciplines are dependent on each other. The project requirements follow each subject area's curriculum requirements from the school system for content and for skills.