Connecting Students with Conservation: Trout in the Classroom
A statewide initiative since 2006, Trout in the Classroom (TIC) allows school students to raise rainbow trout in a classroom aquarium from egg to fingerling stage before releasing them into a state-approved body of water. Not intended to be a stocking program, TIC’s aim is to regularly engage students in conservation topics to create informed stewards who feel connected with natural resources and will make wise decisions to preserve and restore them. It is an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted program that conveys the importance of coldwater resources, threats to those resources, and actions that people may take to protect and conserve them. It also introduces youth to local, outdoor recreational opportunities.
While brook trout were originally raised, a decision was made during Covid to switch to rainbow trout, which spawn a little later than brookies, allowing schools to receive eggs after the winter holiday break. Schools receive between 150 and 200 eggs that hatch soon after delivery. Once the yolk sac is absorbed, and the trout begin to “swim up” in search of food, students may begin feeding the trout until their release.
Spearheaded by the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited (PATU), in partnership with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), currently, over 460 schools in the Commonwealth participate in TIC, receiving their shipment of eggs the week of January 14. Under their teacher’s supervision, students are responsible for the daily care and maintenance of the trout and aquarium, which is outfitted with a filter and chiller to keep the coldwater species comfortable in water temperatures of 52-56 degrees Fahrenheit.
Before the end of the school year, students release their surviving trout into an approved, public waterway. After releasing the fish, students participate in Outdoor Discovery Workshops with hands-on activities that expand upon lessons learned in the classroom, such as collecting and identifying macroinvertebrates (i.e. “stream bugs”), studying trees and spring ephemerals, or casting a fly line.
Brandywine Conservancy’s Penguin Court organizes these field days for five schools and, this year, is working with the following partners to ensure a fun, educational, and safe day for the students.
- Bishop McCort Elementary Schools
- Blacklick Valley Jr./Sr. High School
- Cambria County Conservation District
- Mountain Laurel Trout Unlimited
- Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited
- Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
- Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources’ Blue Knob State Park
- Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources’ Laurel Hill State Park
- Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources’ Prince Gallitzin State Park
- Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
- Pennsylvania Master Naturalist
- Shade-Central City High School
- Shade Creek Watershed Association
- Shanksville-Stonycreek Elementary School
- Somerset Conservation District
- Stonycreek Conemaugh River Improvement Project
- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
We appreciate the following organizations that allow Release Day activities to take place on their property.
- D&J Golf Haven
- Greater Ferndale Sportsmen’s Association
- Pennsylvania Game Commission
- Shade Sportsmen's Club
For more information on PA TIC, visit: www.patroutintheclassroom.org.