Authors

Date

4-27-2011

Document Type

Presentation

School

Gates Intermediate School, Scituate, Massachusetts

Teacher

Cynthia Jaymes

Description

A severe drought affected the streams leading into the reservoirs in Scituate throughout the summer of 2010 causing water bans and an exceptionally low amount of water from which to draw for the town’s use. The usual public and accessible portions of the streams were dry. Fortunately, the North and South Rivers Watershed Association includes a member who graciously allowed four students to come and sample the water on his property on October 7, 2010. Following the sampling with kick nets and gear borrowed from the WAL lab, these students spent the next six months meeting weekly to classify the benthic macroinvertebrates obtained that afternoon. These dedicated students worked diligently with a purpose of finding an indication of the water quality on that particular fall day. During the weekly 1 ½ to 2 hour sessions, the level of curiosity grew as the types of macroinvertebrates were found, classified, and discussed. The process was one of discovery and a realization of the balance of nature and its effect on our own community. As the time to conclude drew near and the tabulations and calculations began, the young scientists shared the tasks and collaborated on the presentation of their data. The PowerPoint presentation includes the details of the study and the results. This was a worthwhile activity that would benefit an entire class given available sites.

Streaming Media

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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