|
|
FALL 1998 |
|
Curry adds spice to science studiesTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettCongratulations to the winner!Free safety glassesReturn to top |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the Chesapeake
Nitrogen enrichment from agricultural run-off has been a longstanding problem in the Chesapeake, the magnificent estuary bordered by Maryland and Virginia. Now there is speculation that a rise in airborne nitrogen, possibly due to the proliferation of animal farms along the watershed, may be further compromising water quality. Unfortunately, data quantifying atmospheric deposition has been sparse. Soon, however, that data gap will be bridged, thanks to a well-organized team of scientists, teachers, skippers, software engineers and middle school students coordinated by the Living Classrooms Foundation in Baltimore. In an enviable model of cooperation and partnership, teachers from 34 schools throughout the watershed will be trained in proper scientific procedures, data transmission, and the use of scientific equipment, including Hach’s DR/890 Colorimeters. "The goal is to secure valid data for the USGS to use for publication," USGS scientist Dr. Owen Bricker says. "The DR/890 is sophisticated enough to generate the accurate scientific test results we require. The instrument seems rugged and is waterproof enough to use at the water’s edge and on board the ships. It also allows us to download test results to our central database." To complement the research, students will participate in a 15-lesson, interdisciplinary curriculum developed by two Baltimore teachers, Bob Keddell and Sherri Barr. "A few years ago, teachers did a good job explaining to students that pollution was bad and that everyone needed to help fix it, but we never suggested how," says Keddell. This project will demonstrate that such problems are not simple. Students will be encouraged to think about the impact of the problem and the consequences of potential solutions. Information will be widely shared. Thanks to custom software being developed by Ease Technologies, data will be downloaded from remote monitoring sites by way of an AT&T wireless modem to the USGS database. It will be automatically posted to a Web site, where information on the Nitrate Net will be shared by the participating schools. The Institute for Connecting Science Research to the Classroom, affiliated with Virginia Tech, will also link Living Classroom data to Virginia middle schools. The address will be www.livingclassrooms.org. The Living Classrooms Foundation is world renowned for experiential learning programs that create enthusiasm for knowledge, and instill a sense of self worth and hope. "This particular project is unique because it provides real, scientific data collection and also addresses a current environmental issue within the context of an exciting educational curriculum," Bricker says. |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettCongratulations to the winner!Free safety glassesReturn to top
|
Curry adds spice to
science studies Step out of your typical classroom and into Don Curry’s "Global Environmental Lab" and it’s easy to see why so many students at Silverado High in Las Vegas, Nevada, can’t wait to get to school. That’s because Curry seasons his approach to science with unmitigated enthusiasm, creativity, and a commitment to link students to something larger than themselves.
You won’t hear too many "so what" remarks in Curry’s classroom, where students literally embrace the philosophy behind the Global Environmental Studies program. Using state-of-the-art technology (acquired, in large part, through Curry’s aggressive pursuit of grants), students are connected to an international network linked by telecommunications, shared curriculum and common goals. They experience, in a tangible way, the intricate balances that exist between air, earth, water--not to mention society, politics and economics. Here is just a sampling of the enormous variety of activities undertaken by Curry’s students in a typical year:
While water quality research represents only a portion of student activity, there is evidence of Hach throughout Curry’s laboratory . . . from the portable Water Water Everywhere Laboratory and Pocket PalÔ pH Testers to Digital Titrators and dissolved oxygen kits. "Hach products are always excellent and ideally suited for this sort of testing," Curry says. "We’ve used them for a long time and have never ever had to send anything back." How does Curry finance all of these projects and the equipment needed to carry them out? A master grant-writer, Curry recently approached the Christa McAuliffe Foundation for funds to develop a program that would link Silverado to five less fortunate rural schools in Nevada via computer video cameras. They awarded him $33,000, and next year his students will be designing, creating, and teaching science lessons to peers across the state. Curry also believes in partnerships with local organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Desert Research Institute. A local engineering group (Montgomery Watson) supplies boats for sampling excursions to Lake Mead. They organize tours of water treatment plants, one of which was from their branch office in Milan during last summer’s field trip to Italy. And best of all, Curry notes, they don’t talk down to the kids, even though they’re accustomed to working with far more sophisticated equipment. In fact, when Teaching Water Science last spoke with Curry, he was literally en route to this summer’s field trip in Russia, the Czech Republic and Finland. Montgomery Watson had just called him to say everything was ready for them in Prague. "It’s this kind of corporate commitment that really gives something back to the community," Curry says. "These guys really have the right attitude. It’s so great we can work together like this and put water into the right perspective for everyone." |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeCurry adds spice to science studiesHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettCongratulations to the winner!Free safety glassesReturn to top
|
Tribal education
program evolves through ingenuity and perseverance When Dillon Esquerra, a water technician for the Colorado River Indian Tribes, was asked to fulfill the terms of a Clean Water Grant and develop a water education plan, he literally had to start from scratch. The funding was there, but nothing like this had ever been done on the reservation. And there was resistance right from the start.
"That is when I realized," Esquerra says, "that these attitudes had been formed long ago, and the only way to counter all this negativity was to start with the kids. Eventually they will inherit this land and it is they who will inherit the problems associated with it." Esquerra started with the primary school principals, but they had no curriculum in place to study water quality. "The grant application work plan was a little vague, which was good in the sense that it kept my options open, and bad in the sense that it gave me no guidance." It wasn’t until Esquerra approached two educators at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service that the possibilities really began to come into view. "They showed me a teaching tool designed to show how ground water works. And then ideas began shooting all over the place." He made a plan, wrote down some questions, and approached the Parker High School principal, who introduced him to science teacher David Partridge. "David asked me what kind of equipment I had so he could base the curriculum around it," Esquerra says, "and was very happy when I showed him the Hach kits our tribe had purchased with grant money." The curriculum made its way into a summer school program that included two weeks of indoor study and two weeks of field work. Ten sampling sites were selected based on their ease of accessibility and variety of habitat . . . mostly lakes, ponds, backwaters and drains. Nineteen students signed up for the course, for which they were given half a credit.
"It was interesting," Partridge says. "The kids who had problems with book
work and in class basically took over. They got involved in chemistry and other stuff they
would not normally care about." Partridge has been using Hach equipment since college, when he majored in fisheries and biology research. He chose 20 tests he knew the kids could handle and had them follow directions. "They seemed to enjoy wading in the water, working with the chemistries, and looking for visual differences in the color comparators," Partridge says. "The best part was I didn’t really have to motivate them." |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeCurry adds spice to science studiesTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceStudent conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettCongratulations to the winner!Free safety glassesReturn to top
|
NEW! Hach’s easiest
and fastest test yet! If you’re an instructor teaching environmental education, your job just got easier. Now your entire class can test for eight key parameters anywhere-easily, quickly and affordably-with no handling of chemicals and no training required. Hach Water Quality Test Strips feature a unique reagent pad at the tip and need only be dipped in the sample until color development occurs. The color of the reacted pad is then compared to the color chart printed on the package label. Hach Test Strips use proven chemistries that are based on standard reference methods.
They’re safe and disposable, and provide fast, dependable testing in only seconds. As
for your school budget, Hach Test Strips are very economical, costing only pennies per
test. They are available for measuring alkalinity, chlorine (Total and Free), hardness,
iron, copper, nitrate, nitrite, chloride and pH. |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeCurry adds spice to science studiesTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Congratulations to the winner!Free safety glassesReturn to top |
Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake Poinsett Frozen lakes
and subzero temperatures are not the usual domain of water quality researchers. But that
wasn’t about to stop Terri French, a student at Estelline High School in Estelline,
South Dakota, who decided to undertake the first-ever winter water quality study on nearby
Lake Poinsett. She conducted her research from November 1996 through March 1997 under the
direction of Dr. Gerald Myers, a retired professor of biology from South Dakota State
University (SDSU). To assist French in her research, the Lake Poinsett Area Development Association loaned the young scientist a DREL/2000 Portable Laboratory for collecting data. The Water Resources Institute at SDSU threw in an oxygen test meter for determining oxygen levels. Once her research was conducted, she wrote an extensive research paper which she was given the honor of presenting at the Lobcrshevsky Science Symposium in Kasan, Republic of Tatarstan, in the Russian Federation in April 1997. Given the merit of French’s research, the Estelline High School Civics class decided to get involved and conduct a community survey, which led to an Annenberg Rural Challenge grant. One of the questions proposed was whether or not the stewardship of Lake Poinsett and connected waters should be promoted more extensively. Seventy percent of the respondents said yes. The survey resulted in an additional mini-grant from the Annenberg Program for Rural School and Community Renewal. Money was used to update chemicals in the DREL/2000 Lab, which later took up residence in the Estelline High School science lab, under the supervision of Instructor Michael Schroeder. The following year, Shroeder’s class carried on the research started by Terri French. Parents, grandparents and even local ice fisherman became involved. They lowered Secchi disks through holes in the ice, calculated snow depths, collected cloud, wind and water data, measuring pH, dissolved oxygen, phosphates and nitrates. Schroeder’s students wrapped up their research with a comparison study of Lake Poinsett and Estelline city well water. French’s winter water quality research at Lake Poinsett led to some interesting conclusions. If you are hoping for lots of algal activity and fish movement, for example, don’t conduct your research in the winter. In addition, French concluded that winter water testing was best used as a reference comparison to normally higher phosphorus and nitrogen levels found in the summer. From this, she was able to ascertain the impact of pastures and run-off on lake water. |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeCurry adds spice to science studiesTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettFree safety glassesReturn to top |
Congratulations to the winner! Gerry Wohlhuter of Montevideo Middle School in Montevideo, Minnesota, was the lucky winner of a CEL/820 Water Water Everywhere Laboratory at NSTA. But he already gave it away to someone he thought needed it more - 7th grade life science teacher Jim Gilley. Jim is going to use the lab to help monitor his artificial wetlands project, which was constructed with funds received from a Toyota Tapestry Grant two years ago. The "wetlands" is actually a series of ten tanks in his classroom, which have been designed to simulate the natural wastewater treatment process. Mr. Gilley reported that he recently deposited chicken manure (phew!) into his wetlands, and then pumped it from one tank to another to enable his kids to monitor nutrient levels and get a live demonstration of the nitrogen cycle. Good luck, Mr. Gilley, with your DR/820 Lab, and many thanks to all the teachers who entered the contest. We hope to see you again next year at NSTA! |
DR/890s help Living Classrooms cast "Nitrate Net" into the ChesapeakeCurry adds spice to science studiesTribal education program evolves through ingenuity and perserveranceHach's easiest and fastest test yet!Student conducts first-ever winter water quality research at Lake PoinsettCongratulations to the winner!Return to top |
Free safety glasses! We love the photos you send with stories showing your kids wearing their safety glasses. Safety is always our No. 1 concern at Hach, so we’ve decided to extend our safety glasses campaign. Here’s how it works. Send us a photo of your students using Hach products and wearing appropriate eye protection. Write a short caption describing what everyone is doing. And we’ll send you a pair of awesome neon-colored safety glasses, absolutely free. (We’ll also run your photo, as space permits, in a new SAFETY FIRST column slated for the next issue of Teaching Water Science.) Contact: Editor, Teaching Water Science, P.O. Box 389, Loveland, CO 80525. If you’re not sure how to use Hach chemicals safely, check out the safety guidelines posted in the Student Lab at H2OU!
|
|
H2OU is a subsite of hach.com.
Send us your comments! Copyright and trademark information |
|
This page was last updated 08/16/06 |
Deemed sound,
sophisticated and seaworthy (i.e. waterproof to one meter for 30 minutes),
Hach’s newest DR/890 Colorimeters have been commissioned to set sail with groups of
middle school students on the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Their mission? To gather data for
operation "Little Sheds Nitrate Network," a Living Classrooms Foundation project
funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in close cooperation
with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Ease Technologies and AT&T Wireless
Services. 
"The
way I see it," says Curry, the 1998 recipient of the Presidential Award for Science
and Math, "is that education is a holistic endeavor. Sure, I teach science. But
science is the easiest part of the learning process. We can push buttons on our
calculators and our Hach colorimeters and get all kinds of numbers, but it’s kind of
a SO WHAT statement until we put those numbers in context with environmental issues and
our culture."
"I
am no educator," Esquerra says. "And the first thing I discovered about rallying
volunteers is that people are reluctant to take time out of their schedules to do
something they figure is the federal government’s job in the first place." One
adult he approached with an "adopt a stream" idea remarked that water was
Esquerra’s job and that he should just do something about it!
