Testing the
Waters
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Telling others what we've learned.
Introduction | Invitation | Exploration | Explanation | Taking Action | Conclusion
You have tested water for various chemical and physical properties. You have also conducted biomonitoring activities in which you collected organisms as indicators of water quality. By now you have gathered enough data to build a fairly detailed description of your adopted stream. To bring our good work into finer focus, lets's review what our research tells us about the stream, and then decide how we might inform others about our findings.
Objectives
In this final lesson we will divide into four groups and...
- analyze data from your class and one other class in the project.
- summarize, post, and present the data from activities 1 through 4.
- tell others in your community what you've learned about local water quality.
- generate questions that might direct future research projects.
Materials
For this activity, you will need
- data posted during water lessons 1 through 4 for your class and another participating class.
- chart paper, colored markers, tape or thumbtacks.
Still water often is seen to cast a reflection back to the careful observer. We too may benefit by slowing up the pace a bit, and "reflecting back" thoughtfully about what our research tells us about water quality.
You probably recall
our exploration of the global water cycle in lesson one.
Such cycles remind us that all life on earth shares a common
need and responsibility for resources such as water. The
opportunity to compare the results of similar water research
conducted in Russia and the U.S. gives this research work a
potential to help others think globally. Your water
research can help others appreciate the fact that people
living in very different regions face very similar
challenges in responsibly using our natural resources. Let's
review and summarize our results, so we can teach others
what we've learned.
Exploration:
Analysis and Posted Summary of Results
Form four groups within your class. Each group is assigned one of the water lessons. Each group should review both the data generated from your class and one other participating class. Your challenge is to summarize the results of two classes conducting one of the water lessons.
Visit the lesson and review the data posted on the bulletin board. Discuss with the other members of the group how you could best compare and contrast the findings at the two different streams. Each group will draw up the summary results on simple chart paper to be posted in class. When all four groups have completedtheir posters, they can be attached to the wall and used in generating ideas for our culminating activity.
Some ideas you may want to consider when developing your posters include:
--clearly present the different methods used to assess water
quality
--present data in the form of descriptive words that
indicate water quality
--present data in form of measurements, numbers, or rankings
that indicate water quality
--indicate similarities that you see in the data from both
classes
--indicate differences that you see in the data from both
classes
In the explanation phase of this lesson, we will prepare and give a brief presentation of our poster summary to our classmates. The analysis conducted in the exploration phase has given each group some specialized insights. The idea here is that through four groups presenting their summary of each research lesson, the whole class can more quickly see the big picture of how results compare between two different classes.
After the presentations the posters should be left up for further thinking and discussing. Your teacher will then guide further discussion on how each group might initiate a final action project.
Using the reports and your posters, you might contact one of the schools in your partner nation, and set up an on-line chat. This will require a little advance planning. You will need to agree upon a date and time to meet in the chat room to discuss your reports and posters with each other.
To get the most from the good work you've done, we should see how our results might direct future work. We should also seriously consider how we might inform others about our research.
Your teacher will lead a class discussion on the following questions from the posted data:
1. Are there any water quality problems in the streams studied?
2. If problems exist, what can be done to improve the situation?
3. What overall conclusions can be drawn from the data?
4. Can you think of any further questions for future research?
To conclude or close the water module, it would be great if each of the four groups from this lesson would develop a final action project in the local community. The goal here is to tell others in your community what you've learned about water quality in the nearby stream and in the stream across the globe.
You can get the message out in several ways. Some suggestions include:
--Design a web page presenting the
data.
--Design instructional posters to be placed on display in
the school library.
--Work with an elementary science teacher and present your
research to those students.
--Involve people in an "adopt-the-stream" club to pick up
litter or continue monitoring the water on a regular
basis.
Your group may come up with a different, more creative way to tell others about the importance of water monitoring. As a final means of concluding the water module, different classes may have the opportunity to have groups present their final action project.
Evaluating the Water Module
The authors of the Water Module would like you to take a few minutes to answer five questions about the Water Module. Please link to the Water Module Assessment. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this.