Science of the Environment class gives Culver students deeper understanding of scientific process

Culver Academies began offering a new research-based, college-level course this year called “Science of the Environment” that gives students a deeper understanding of the scientific process.

The curriculum focuses on the unique ecosystems surrounding campus, including Lake Maxinkuckee, wetlands and atmosphere. Students engage in hands-on fieldwork, data collection and analyses to explore biogeochemical cycles. The class replaces an Advanced Placement Environmental Science class.

“I did not think that the AP class was giving students the experience to really learn deeply about what it means to study the environment,” said Chris Carrillo, Ph.D., chair of the science department at Culver Academies. “It was a broad-brushed AP across the board. If there was a paragraph about the ozone hole, it was a paragraph. Students learn a little bit about each thing and move on to the general AP test.”

The new class aims to give students tools to engage in undergraduate research in college, Carrillo said. He teaches the class along with Brad Reil, Ph.D., meaning two instructors with doctorates are teaching a class of nine students. Carrillo said he decided to call the class Science of the Environment, rather than Environmental Science, to emphasize that science comes first.

“I also wanted students to study something that is our environment. This is our place. This is Culver. What is our environment and how can we understand the environment that we live in?” Carrillo said.

Because Carrillo is an oceanographer, or as he described it, “a water chemist,” he decided the class this year was going to study Lake Maxinkuckee, specifically, the alkalinity of the lake. Alkalinity acts as a natural buffer, resisting pH changes and stabilizing the water chemistry, which protects aquatic life from harmful acid shifts caused by pollution or acid rain.

Carrillo said future classes could study biology, physics or other areas of science.

“There’s all sorts of ways we could go with this. Any instructor who has a deep knowledge of a certain area could teach that area,” he said.

Students this year learned hands-on science through titration experiments. Titration is a common lab technique to, in this case, find the pH of the lake water by slowly adding acid until the pH drops sharply to find the equivalence point. The students used titration to find real-world answers to questions about the affects of rainwater, underground inputs and seasonal changes on the lake.

They started by reading a 1907 alkalinity survey of Lake Maxinkuckee that was released in 1920 and read some studies conducted by Culver Academies students for an honors class. Students then chose different research topics they wanted to focus on and then came up with hypotheses.

“They realized that their initial hypothesis, especially when you study environment, is usually simplistic, and usually needs to be reframed. Because whatever they thought was happening is usually the opposite. So you have to change on a dime when you're doing your research, and they have to stay focused. Sometimes they want to go off on five different tangents, which I allow them to do. That's the way to learn. Failure is the best teacher,” Carrillo said.

Kiersten Blacker ’26 studied the unknown protolytes in the lake, which are substances that can donate or accept protons in the lake, looking specifically at whether leaves falling into the lake were changing pH levels. She thought the leaves were going to be the protolyte.

But she said she found that leaves were likely not the protolyte.

“That was completely the opposite of what I expected,” she said.

She said it was slightly frustrating, but also motivated her to keep researching “because I want to find out something nobody else knows. It’s motivating me to find out what’s happening.”

Some students looked at the effect of water flowing into the lake from different spots, including one near The Shack and another near a big tree, had on the alkalinity.

Students at Culver, an elite leadership-oriented boarding school, said they like the freedom the class allows. Bennett Hendricks ’26 said he signed up for the class because he was looking for a rigorous science class. He studied the effect of ice formation on lake alkalinity, specifically on whether calcium carbonate is inorganically precipitating when ice increases the ion concentration.

“It’s a super unique experience, honestly. I’ve never really been in a class where you have full freedom to choose what you want to research and create your own experiment and go after your own conclusion. In my opinion, it’s gotten me to a higher level of science than any structured class has ever gotten me because I was able to get there by myself because I wanted to know the answers,” Hendrick said.

He said the class helped him find an interest he didn’t know he had. He plans to major in economics in college, but because of the class he’s considering a minor in chemistry. He describes the class as unique.

“I’ve never really been in a class where you have full freedom to choose what you want to research and create your own experiment and go after your own conclusion. In my opinion, it’s gotten me to a higher level of science than any structured class has ever gotten me because I was able to get there by myself because I wanted to know the answers.”

Carrillo said he’s pleased with the way students have responded to the class.

“My overall goal was this would be a course that they'll remember the rest of their lives,” he said.

Hendricks and Blacker both said the class was memorable .

“It’s the most enjoyable science class I’ve ever taken,” Hendricks said.