Stream Quality

After students went through the classroom experience of Handland and Sandland, it is time to take them to see an actual stream environment. We will consider what we mean when we say stream or water quality. It is important to understand that stream quality like streams themselves is a dynamic flowing reality--it is constantly changing over time. A stream that is crystal clear and filled with a diverse world of benthic organisms or creatures that live on the bottom, could become a raging torrent, filled with mud and run-off from the upper watershed during a storm. Anything that might live in the stream or on its bottom is likely to be washed downstream after a storm like this. It is important to realize that urban streams can also feel the affects of a variety of sewer overflows after a storm, when the water may look fine once sediments settle, but water quality may be biologically unsafe.

Background
Water is rarely 100% clean or 100% dirty. How do we know a stream is healthy? This module provides some activities, information and a field book that will help students understand the dynamic nature of streams, and give them a sense of stream quality through the use of various tools and observations. Students learn about small aquatic creatures called benthic organisms. They will also learn basic water-chemistry, the use of color for camouflage-in nature and various human impacts on stream environments. Each student will use a field book to record his/her observations. Teachers are encouraged to give them an opportunity to compare and contrast different streams, or maybe just different parts of the same stream. Look for changes in the banks, channel and surrounding environment to give students a full experience. Remember stream quality changes in time. By using different tools, disciplines and skills we discover that streams are not just streams, but complex and interesting systems.

Target Grade Level
Grade 5-7

Objectives
Students will:

Observe different benthic organisms

Use the presence of aquatic organisms to assess water quality

Use the chemical testing as another means of assessing water quality

Observe and analyze the stream and its environment

Be exposed to the impact of human activities on water quality
 
PA Educational Standards
Related PA Proposed Environment and Ecology Standards: Grade 7
Streams
  • Explain the effects of water on the life of organisms in a watershed.
  • Explain how the physical components of aquatic systems influence the organisms that live there in term of size, shape, and physical adaptations.
  • Describe the life cycle of organisms that depend on water.
  • Identify organisms that have aquatic stages of life and describe those stages.
  • Identify environmental health issues.
Environmental Health
  • Identify environmental health issues.
  • Identify various examples of long-term pollution and explain their effects on environmental health.
  • Identify diseases that have been associated with poor environmental quality.
Ecosystem and their Interactions
  • Explain the flows of energy and matter from organism to organism within an ecosystem.
  • Identify and explain the characteristics of biotic and abiotic
  • Describe and explain the adaptations of plants and animals to their environment.
  • Demonstrate the dependency of living components in the ecosystem on the nonliving components
  • Explain how human activities affect local, regional and national environments.
  • Describe what effect consumption and related generation of wastes have on the environment.
 
Humans and Environment

Explain how human activities affect local, regional and national environments.

Explain how a particular human activity has changed the local area over the years.
Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities

Compare similarities in process, techniques and content in the arts and other subject

Estimated Duration
1 to 1.5-hours for the activity, and each extension

Note to the instructor:
Students have already discussed a local watershed in class. When you plan a field trip, choose a place in your local watershed. Prepare safety issues and concerns for your students. (Field book )