It's minus 23 degrees out and a stiff wind blows drifts of snow horizontally along the Yukon River. This group of high school students, dressed for the elements, takes turns operating the ice auger. It's no easy task chewing through the metre of ice that covers the river.

They are trying to make an opening large enough for one minnow trap. Water, an unwelcome element at this temperature, splashes out of each hole as the auger breaks through.

Bob Sharp, their teacher, ignores the drenching that his light hiking boots are taking. As he plunges his hand into the hole to check for obstructions, he tells stories of doing the same procedure in Old Crow when he taught there. He reassures the students that when it is minus 40, the water feels warmer than the air.

Welcome to science class, Yukon-style.

The five students are getting a quick and cold immersion into a semester-long class called Experiential Sciences 11, which operates out of the Wood Street School in Whitehorse. This school-within-a-school program gives students hands-on experience with real projects such as this one.

Right now they are helping the Canoe and Kayak Club check whether fish are overwintering in this stretch of river. Last year the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) permitted the club to dump a pile of rocks into the river near the pumphouse in Riverdale.

Boaters like to play in the waves and eddies formed by such obstructions, and the club would like to build more of them. But first DFO wants to know whether this spur of rock is affecting fish habitat. The department is particularly concerned about the new salmon spawning beds constructed downstream of the spur.

Sharp's students are helping with the habitat assessments required for the project. Last fall one group set minnow traps in the river. Another group learned to use a sophisticated surveying instrument called a total station to map the river bottom.

The students at the river today will continue the fish-trapping project this semester. The frozen motor on the auger is coaxed back into action, and they manage to drill the fifth and final hole. A few chops with an axe, some jabs with the shovel, and the opening is ready.

Trix Tanner, the DFO education coordinator, drops the baited trap into the water and anchors it to a stick. The hole is insulated with cardboard and a layer of snow, and the job is done.

The students have gotten off lightly today because of the weather. Normally they will set ten traps. When asked about the experience back in the van, the most vocal comment is a deadpan "It was informative."

Sharp has been teaching this class long enough that new students have heard what they can expect in Experiential Sciences 11. They obviously are not being scared away by the rigours of the field projects. This year eighty students applied for the forty available positions.

If they do not like cold water, they have plenty of other options. Today another group is out plotting caribou habitat with Global Positioning Systems. Other projects include helping to run a woodsmoke-monitoring program in Riverdale, and setting up and operating a weather station on Mount Sima.

On all of these projects they get to work with professionals such as Tanner, finding out first-hand what their jobs are like. Sharp describes this direct contact as a big benefit of the program.

"They have an opportunity to be involved in fisheries management, and they get to see what sorts of jobs they might be interested in," he says. "They also increase their likelihood of employment. These sorts of opportunities don't come by all the time."

During the semester they study regular Grade 11 courses, but not in the traditional way. Sharp explains that academic studies are integrated with field projects such as fish-trapping. They learn biology by studying fish populations. Mapping the river and learning about surveying strategies apply to their geography course.

Amanda Wren, a student in last semester's class, has returned today to help teach the new students how to set traps. She says that the highlight of the program for her was the month-long field trip. Every semester the class travels by van through southwest Yukon, British Columbia and Alberta, studying terrestrial and marine environments along the way.

"You got to see the things you are learning about," says Wren. "In Grade 11 biology you learn about phylums for things like jelly fish. When we were kayaking in Vancouver we actually got to see a jellyfish, so what you are learning sinks in quite a bit more."

She also credits the course with giving her a better understanding of what she wants to do when she gets older, starting with choosing a university. All the students take a course in Career and Personal Planning (CAPP), and during the field trip the class visits a number of universities and colleges.

"If you take CAPP in a regular class, you don't get to see these places and talk to people there. That really helps," says Wren.

When asked whether this outing on the Yukon River is a typical field day for the class, Wren laughs. "Unfortunately yes," she says. For more information on Experiential Sciences 11, contact the Wood Street School, 411 Wood Street, at 667-8413.