Hello Amy,

There are two major ways that we have connected students across the regions: through shared data visualization and through the videoconference capstone project.

The shared data visualization is facilitated by the iSENSE system (isenseproject.org), a web system for sharing and visualizing scientific data which is ntended to be a resource for middle school and high school science, math, and engineering instruction. Students can see the data points entered by all other student groups for the various water testing values. They can sort by class, teacher, state, or view all data. I can point you to more specific examples of the data visualization if you like.

As a capstone project, Zoom videoconferences between pairs of classrooms allowed classes in different states to share their local experiences by presenting a video postcard, and then talking live about their findings.

That's great, Saadia. Thanks for sharing more information on the iSENSE system. This looks like a great resource for sharing data. Best, Amy 

Hello Sue,

The educational career pathway is introduced in two different ways: First, the Water SCIENCE activities have several insets with text that introduces different water related careers, and then pose a question about them. For example, there is a description of a "Water Quality Scientist" with Qualifications, Salary, and Coursework info. There is also a question to be answered "Is there a local government agency or company where you could be an intern to explore this career?"

Then later on when the teacher introduces the Water Scientist videos, each different scientist talks about what area they have a degree in, and what they were interested in that got them to this position.

Currently the Water Scientist videos were shown after the kids had done all the water testing and filtering activities, but that was due to the timing of their production. They might be fun for the kids to watch earlier on.

Saadia, that's really impressive. How wonderful to include companies where students might be able to intern. I wonder if doing the scientist videos post testing might stick more. Students might see the nuances in what scientists do that might be missed if they haven't experienced the tests themselves. Certainly interesting to try it both ways and see.

Carolyn, just recently was surprised to learn that 40% of the Mystic Watershed is covered in rooftop or concrete. There is so much I don't know about my own watershed.

It strikes me that the audience for your program (or aspects of it) could be entire communities--adults, young people, town leaders learning together. It is now so easy to study (with data) one's own local environment. Is our view of who learners too limited?

Sue,

Precisely! The students can become citizen scientists share their results with the larger community. The iSENSE project and Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry (ITSI) portal is free for use by schools so they can display and share data in a secure way. Stroud Water Research Center that has developed Model My Watershed (MMW) with Azavea are supporting GIS in classrooms using the Site Storm model with this NSF-funded project.  Another source of funding is the William Penn Foundation for MMW that has provided additional funding to add the Watershed Multi-year model side of software. The Watershed Multi-year model is specifically used by professionals and citizen scientist groups to look for long term trends. Both of these models are available to the students within the version provided in the ITSI portal. The Water SCIENCE curriculum uses only the Site Storm model at this time.

Hi Deborah - 

Great Questions! Giving students knowledge and access to the scientific tools needed to make informed decisions is empowering. One tool that we used in the project is Model My Watershed https://app.wikiwatershed.org/ This free online watershed modeling application gives students the ability to model their watershed and the ability to assess the impacts of their actions.  

For example in one of the Water SCIENCE classrooms, the students talked about a building project proposed at their school.  The school is considering "paving" the front lawn to increase parking spaces.  One 5th grade student used Model My Watershed to see the impact of this land cover change on the watershed.  Concerned with the result, she returned to Model My Watershed to explore how she could "mitigate" the impact of the additional impervious surface.  She decided that the school's roof often leaks in heavy rain so they need a new roof.  What if they added a green roof to the school instead of a traditional roof?  Using Model My Watershed she modeled how adding a green roof could mitigate the impact of the new parking lot.  She shared this information with her principal.  She had the knowledge and the data to inform her actions.  Now that is exciting science!

Hello Deborah,

On of the additional features in Model My Watershed is in the layer controls of this web-based GIS. Users can add boundary layers including Congressional Districts and School Districts across the entire lower 48 states. In PA user can also add the PA Municipality boundary layers.

What great tools and resources to help schools tailor the learning to their specific locality! Thanks for sharing!

The project is geared towards the middle school grades, but has been used with kids as young as 5th grade as an afterschool program. The resources are freely available through Concord Consortium's ITSI (Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry) portal https://itsi.portal.concord.org/itsi

Water SCIENCE is found under the category Middle School Environmental Science https://itsi.portal.concord.org/itsi#middle-school-environmental-science

The Teacher's Guide for Water SCIENCE, the ability to set up class rosters, and customize activities becomecavailable with teacher login to ITSI.

The web-based GIS Model My Watershed is also free and available for anyone to use, embedded into the curriculum or accessed separately at https://wikiwatershed.org/.

If teachers are looking for curriculum for high school students they can go to the ITSI portal and also use the High School Environmental Science activities which are part of a related NSF funded project called Teaching Environmental Sustainability - Model My Watershed.