Kansas City, Kan. ? Government scientists and elementary school students will start testing water quality this week in ponds and streams in Kansas and Missouri.

A team of researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency also will be teaching the children about aquatic life and water chemistry.

The first of the so-called “outdoor classrooms” takes place Friday morning for about 600 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in the Kansas City, Kan., school district.

Outdoor classrooms are also scheduled April 19 in the northwestern Missouri town of Holt, and April 23 in Overland Park, Kan.