| Teacher
Background: Nothing can substitute for the experience
of getting kids out in the field studying actual stream
conditions. Taking "ownership" of an area of a local
stream, creek, or river, determining its water quality, and developing a
plan for helping fix problems that may become apparent is the best way to get students to care
about the environment they live in. Have students constantly refer
back to their "Big Question"
to remember what they are trying to investigate. If you are not able to get students out in
the field, bring in 5-gallon buckets of water from a creek, stream or
river that you want the kids to learn about. Collect it on the
day you want them to test it. The temperature of the water
should be taken at the site. You can also bring in water samples
from different areas so the kids can compare. You can collect
bugs, or macroinvertebrates, from each site and put them in the
buckets also, for students to look at back in the classroom. |
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Water quality testing involves the abiotic (nonliving) factors
which affect water quality: dissolved oxygen, pH,
temperature, nitrates, phosphates, and turbidity. When your students
also study macroinvertebrates and
an area's riparian zone, they will
study the biotic (living) factors that help indicate water
quality. Visit the GREEN website at
http://www.earthforce.org/green/
for descriptions of the different abiotic testing parameters. |
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Back in the Classroom:
Upon returning to the classroom, students
should record and analyze their data, looking for patterns.
They should look at each test result and determine whether it was a
"good" or "bad" result, or inconclusive.
If more than one of your classes went out, compare and contrast the
results from each class. Keep going back to your "big
question" - ask your students whether you are getting closer to
answering it, and make sure they realize that trying to answer the
question after just one experience out in the field is not reliable.
Scientific investigations and
experiments must be repeated to be reliable.
If you are only able to go out and do
field studies once, make sure you help your students understand that
their results represent only one point in time along one section of a
stream or river. It is still relevant data but the overall
health of that body of water can not be determined on their results
alone.
Students
now have the ingredients to create stories, poetry, research papers,
etc. You will find that they are more eager to write and create
when it is about something that they themselves did and worked at.
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We've
Got Our Data, What Now?
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If
you are a WVC member district you need to put your data onto the
website. See data
entry.
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If
the overall data you have indicates a problem with water quality,
what can you do? It's time to
take action! In order to make a difference for the
environment, students and teachers can take action together. Since
local and regional differences are so great, and problems from one
area to another unique and distinct, it is not possible to give a
single plan of action that fits all. It is important to have
students look at all sides of an issue, talk to those who are
involved, and act responsibly. But, the most important thing
is to take action in some form, otherwise the work done throughout
the school year has been for naught...
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If
there appears to be no problem, perhaps your big question is
answered. If it involves determining the stream's health in
order for salmon to be placed in the stream, you are ready to
go. If you are not raising salmon, but are interested in the
topic and want your students to know about the issues surrounding
it, consider contacting a local hatchery or salmon group to come
and talk to your students.
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Dissolved
Oxygen
Temperature
pH
Turbidity
Nitrates
Fecal Coliform
(From Project
GREEN)
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