This meeting was a hodge-podge of things. Explorers learned how to calculate stream discharge and velocity using our April measurements. They also started writing down what all they have gotten out of our year long water monitoring projects ("My boots aren't tall enough" was a popular comment.), weeding our butterfly gardens and learning how to use the new stereo and compound microscopes we were able to purchase from our stormwater grant.
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Explorers continued to work on their stormwater education posters. Almost everyone was able to finish up but several did take theirs home to put some finishing touches on theirs. If you student brought theirs home, make sure it makes it way back to Wahl-Coates by our next meeting. They drop them off in Ms. Moore's room. Topics ranged from: - Car washes - Paved surfaces - Dog poop - MacroInvertebrates - General Sources of pollution - Where runoff goes Explorers also tended to their Butterfly Garden raised beds. They were in much need of some TLC. Dead branches were pruned, dead plants removed and several cabbages planted. We hope to attract some Cabbage White Caterpillars so we can collect and rear them. Explorers began working on their stormwater education posters. They came up with some great ideas, facts and illustrations! To learn more about the project, click here. What a great meeting! The meeting had three distinct segments. Club meeting, watershed experiment and art time! This was the officers first meeting to lead a meeting. They gave reports and started learning their roles. At the end of the meeting portion, Explorers were invited to share their individual science adventures. There was lots of talk about found insects, explorations of ditches, and the ECU lecture by Eileen Collins. After the club meeting portion, we conducted a little hands-on demonstration/experiment to help explain what a watershed is and how pollutants migrate into our waterways. This helped give them a visualization of how a watershed is bound by high elevation points and that pollutants, sediments, etc. migrate to the lowest point in the watershed. You can find the exercise on page 4 of Watershed Excursion Teacher's Guide published by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Lastly, we got creative! Explorers began working on their entry to the 2013 Unnatural Resources Fair competition that will also be exhibited in the K-12 Youth Expressions Art Project at the Greenville Mall and at the K-12 Works by Pitt County School's Art Students at the Greenville Museum of Art. All three events take place in the second half of the school year. The theme for this year's Youth Express Art Project is biodiversity which fits perfectly with our botanical/entomology theme we had already selected. Using materials destined for either the trash can or recycle bin, Explorers started tranforming the objects into one of a kind insects and beautiful flowers. We want to thank all of the parents that sent items in and Mr. Phillips for lending us his classroom and glue gun and for providing direction and assistance! Explorers conducted their second round of monitoring Green Mill Run on November 1st. The afternoon was gorgeous for such an adventure. We had clear skies, some sunshine and the temperature was comfortable. Each group was given a list of items they were to sample or measure along with directions and supplies. (Ex: Green Group tested for coliform and measured channel area, velocity and temperature. Orange Group tested for dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity. Blue Group tested for nitrates, phosphates and biochemical oxygen demand.) Each month the groups will rotate lists so that they can experience sampling and measuring of each item. Below are the results. Each month we will update the above table. The Biochemical Oxygen Demand test takes 5 days to determine the results. We will post its measurement in next month's update on water quality monitoring. The diagram below shows the stream bed topography. The channel where we are sampling is divided in two by a large sandbar. The blue/green area denotes the area of the channel. The yellow area denotes the sandbar. We noted the following changes about the channel.
Next week at Book Fair Family Night, we will be presenting our findings, how we sample, the equipment we use, information on stormwater and why healthy water is so important. We will be set up in the Cafeteria/Auditorium foyer. Stop by if you can! Donning yellow and orange safety vests, Explorers set out to collect their first results for their water quality monitoring project of Green Mill Run. Explorers were divided into three groups. Each group was given a list of items they were to sample or measure along with directions and supplies. (Ex: Orange Group tested for coliform and measured channel area, velocity and temperature. Blue Group tested for dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity. Green Group tested for nitrates, phosphates and biochemical oxygen demand.) Each month the groups will rotate lists so that they can experience sampling and measuring of each item. Below are the results. Each month we will update the above table. The Biochemical Oxygen Demand test takes 5 days to determine the results. We will post its measurement in next month's update on water quality monitoring. The diagram below shows the stream bed topography. The channel where we are sampling is divided in two by a large sandbar. The blue/green area denotes the area of the channel. The yellow area denotes the sandbar. While not all Explorers got their feet wet on this excursion, there will be ample opportunities over the year to get their feet wet. They were introduced to all sorts of new equipment which they will be introducing in future posts. References:
We kicked off our Stormwater Education Grant with the help of Heather Jacobs Deck from the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation. Heather Jacobs Deck, RIVERKEEPER, monitors and protects the river and serves as a scientific and educational resource to all the people living in the watershed. Greensprings Park provided us with a great location to learn about where water flows in Greenville, the creek in our WC backyard (Green Mill Run), the types of tests we will be running to monitor water quality of Green Mill Run, different aquatic invertebrates, point/non point source pollution, what a watershed is and why water monitoring and quality is so important. Greensprings Park will also be our sampling site for the year. After Heather Jacob Deck's wonderful presentation, we headed down to the stream to go over how to sample for stream discharge. We will start collecting our monthly water samples next week. Stay tuned! We would like to thank Heather Jacobs Deck for coming to Greenville to discuss such important topics with us and for helping us kickoff our year long project on stormwater education. She is an asset to our community and an engaging presenter. We learned so much! Thank you. And we would like to thank Jamie Bradley for photographing the afternoon for us! Images courtesy of Jamie Bradley Photography
Yesterday we had our first meeting of the 2012-2013 school year. All 15 Explorers (11 new and 4 returning) were enthusiastic and ready! It was great! We first went over club rules - being respectful of oneself, their peers, adults, guests, surroundings and equipment. At 2:30p on club Thursdays, they become scientists and should conduct themselves accordingly. They will research, make observations, form hypotheses, jot down notes, share their findings, encourage their peers, etc. They should work as a team of scientists! To reinforce that, they will be working in small group settings collaborating. Our topic of discussion was the various states of matter. They watched a short video on BrainPop called States of Matter. They then tested their knowledge on sorting things into their appropriate state using a game called Matter Sorter. Once they had a good grasp of what was a solid, gas, liquid and plasma, they started their experiment using the scientific process. They made oobleck! Oobleck is a non-Newtonian that is viscous (acts like a liquid) until force is applied where it then has properties of a solid. It was fun and messy and the kids loved it! You will notice this post is missing pictures. In between checking forms, learning new names and guiding them through the scientific process, I forgot to take pictures. I have asked them to remind me next time to pull out my camera. Hopefully with 17 of us in the room, someone will remember!
In conclusion, we had a great time! I enjoyed meeting and getting to know each of them. We are going to have fun and learn a little more about science this year! Resources:
Explorers worked on pinning specimens for their entomology collection they will enter in the Pitt County Fair this fall. After they had pinned all mounting ready specimens, they explored the various gardens around the Pitt County Cooperative Extension to find more insects for their collection. They also found a tomato horn worm with braconid wasp larva which was quite interesting to see. The morning proved fruitful. Their pin boards are full as are their specimen vials. |
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