Bridgewater State University offers a course titled NSCI 521 Watersheds during the fall semester to train teachers on current technology used in watershed assessment. This interdisciplinary course promotes watershed assessment as a tool in environmental education and watershed stewardship. The WAL course and student projects emphasize hands on training in water quality assessment using computerized water quality monitoring, macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of river health and the use of ArcView GIS. The project goal is to evaluate the land use impacts on water quality in the participating school district's community. In the spring, following each team's project completion, the Watershed Access Lab Seminar takes place at the Moakley Center for Technological Applications at Bridgewater State University where school teams present the results of their watershed investigations.
Submissions from 2005
Long Pond Five Site Study (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Long Pond Replication Study (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Macro Invertebrates of Kirby Brook (Westport High School, Westport, Massachusetts)
Mussel Mania (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Preliminary Survey of Rattlesnake Brook (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Seasonal Changes in an Intermittent Stream (Hanson Middle School, Hanson, Massachusetts)
Second Herring Brook: An Analysis of Our Watershed (Norwell High School, Norwell, Massachusetts)
The Effect of Autumn Leaf Drop on Water Quality at Turner's Pond Outlet (Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical School, New Bedford, Massachusetts)
The Loon Pond Experience (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
The Runnins Report (Seekonk High School, Seekonk, Massachusetts)
The Taunton River's Last Major Tributary: Chemical Analysis of a Freshwater Dam System in the Upper Assonet River (Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, Bridgewater, Massachusetts)
The Ten Mile River Study (North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts)
RiverNet Watershed Access Lab Program Overview, Kevin Curry and Kim McCoy
Submissions from 2004
A Closer Look: Second Herring Brook (Norwell High School, Norwell, Massachusetts)
An Initial Study of Town Brook, West Yarmouth, MA (Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts)
Assonet River: Foaming at the Mouth (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
A Water Quality Study of the Braintree Farm River (Braintree High School, Braintree, Massachusetts)
Do We See Feces?: Loon Pond 2003-2004 (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)
Eel River Examination (Plymouth South Middle School, Plymouth, Massachusetts)
Effects of Runoff from Downtown Middleboro on the Nemasket River (Middleborough High School, Middleborough, Massachusetts)
Friedman's Bugwatch Water Quality Study - An Update (Friedman Middle School, Taunton, Massachusetts)
Hanson Riverwater III: Indian Head River Study Year 3 (Hanson Middle School, Hanson, Massachusetts)
How does Land Use Affect the Chemistry of the Water of Fall Brook (Middleborough High School, Middleborough, Massachusetts)
Marina Bay: A Glimpse at the Neponset River Watershed (Atlantic Middle School, North Quincy, Massachusetts)
Milfoil: Man's Best Friend (Apponequet Regional High School, Lakeville, Massachusetts)