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| Why Should We Care As a class we will be going down to the river a number of times during this study. This first time, I want you to gather all the first impressions that you can about the river through observation. You will record your observational data using digital cameras, videocamera (a videocamera is good for recording sounds that you hear), field notebooks (for recording note, sketches and later on copies digital pictures). We will also take a number of buckets for gathering various samples of river water from a number of different locations along the river.
Here are some questions to guide your initial observations:
1. How clean do you think the river water is?
2. What types of things do you see (wildlife, plants, garbage, rocks, soil, etc)? What do you hear?
3. What are the physical boundaries of the river like?
You will also have a number of questions. Discuss them with your classmates and record them in your field notebook.
When you return to the classroom, you will compare what you found in river with is most frequently found in rivers during the Great Canadian Shore Cleanup. How do your results compare?
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Why do this activity?
This is the place where you hook your students into the study? Taking all your students down to the river as a first experience, before they have down a systematic study of the river, allows you, the teacher, to both build a common experience and flush out any misunderstandings that kids may have acquired over the years. It also signals to the students that people who study water actually go to the sites they are studying.
Plan to spend a couple of class periods with this initial activity. Once they get back to the classroom have them compare their observational data with each other. Create a class record of everyone's observations. Questions of what the students could see should open up questions of what they can?t see.
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The role of technology in this task?
Use technology to gather observational | |
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| A River Is Part Of A System Our river is part of a complex system called a watershed. John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is: "that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community." Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state or provincial, national and international boundaries. No matter where you are, you're in a watershed!
You will work with a partner. You and your partner will create a map of our local watershed.
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Why do this task?
This task will take the students beyond speculation to a systematic study how scientists determine water quality. Whole catchment management of water resources is a complex process as it requires the
development of an understanding of systems and processes which operate at both micro and macro levels and over extended time frames. Problems of declining water quality and highly variable water quantity are present or looming in most watersheds. Studying a local watershed is a good way to introduce students to the factors that go into determining water quality.This would be the first task of study that could involve making further observations, designing experiments and models, collecting further data (including pictures and sounds), analyzing data, documenting findings and publishing to a website.
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The place for technology
This is a good place to introduce students to the types of maps that are available online. Spend some time in Google Earth, NASA satellite maps, more and more and more.... | |
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| What's In A Map? Using different types of maps your team will explore and examine the features of our local watershed. Each of your teams will be using a different kind of map, for example historical, topographical, aerial, satellite, vegetation, climate, etc. therefore, each team will gain different perspectives on the watershed. Your team will need to record your questions, observations and interpretations which you will present to your classmates.
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Why do this activity?
Watersheds usually cannot be viewed as a whole from on the ground, so maps are a useful way to make the abstract concept of a watershed concrete. Maps allow people to place themselves in a larger context- living upstream from the mill, downstream from the city, etc. It allows individuals to see their connection to the rest of the watershed. Watershed planners use maps to provide them with an overview of what is known about their watershed, like data points and basic information such as soil type, elevation, geological land formations and plant cover. From this vantage it is easier to see how it all fits together, and what data is missing from the picture. Different groups of students would come up with different maps A common mistake that people make when embarking on water studies is thinking that they can understand something of the health of a river without understanding the context in which that river resides. The importance here is to develop students? understanding that water is part of a system and that water quality is influenced by geological and human activity. A case has to be made about what is included in a watershed and the predictions about the kinds of activities that impact the watershed.
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The place for technology:There are a number places for technology in this activity. Satellite maps, Google Earth, online Geological survey maps, historical maps to see how the watershed has changed over time. Students should also choose the most appropriate way to present their findings and | |
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| Creating A Map As a team you will need to decide what type of map you want to create for the watershed. Remember, different types of maps show different things. Once you have decided, your team will make a case for the type of map you will create. You will need to decide what you should include, what you should leave out and what will be the scale of the map.
In making your decision your team should start to consider what aspect of the watershed you will undertake as a systematic study. This initial map should be part of your contribution to the website.
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Why do this activity?
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The role of technology? | |
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| Mapping Human Activity your notebook includes information on how your local watershed is formed and a detailed map of your local watershed, locating towns along the river and human activities along the river. How might water quality be impacted by the activities along this river?
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Why do this activity?
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The role of technology? | |
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