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Some Knoxville Middle School students got a chance to get some first-hand experience with nature on Tuesday. Kids in Sarah Finnegan’s science class worked with Marion County Naturalist Marla Mertz and DNR officials in a field day at Marion County Park.

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Finnegan says that her students were split into groups, with some fishing, and some doing a macro invertebrate study. She says that a field day like this helps students better understand relationships between organisms and the environment. Finnegan adds that it also helps students make connections when reading information from a text book.

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Photos courtesy of Marion County Naturalist Marla Mertz