Pond Keepers is an educational initiative of a local nature conservation, Mohonk Preserve, that has been adapted for use in a New York high school class of students identified with a range of developmental disabilities. The environmental educator creates classroom mini-habitats that mirror local ponds, using available organisms to create an ecosystem. Pond Keepers have an opportunity, through hands-on activities, to study the diverse ways in which organisms breathe, feed, move, defend themselves and respond to pollution.