Sixth graders learn how to be "citizen scientists" to protect the Stuart stream

By Allison Kohler
Middle School Science

As part of our unit on Water as a Natural Resource, sixth grade students are answering the question, "How might we protect our creek?" In order to do that, the girls are performing different assessments of the creek to determine its health including visual and chemical assessments. The girls work as citizen scientists, using the same sorts of testing parameters that are used by the Department of Environmental Protection and organizations like the Watershed Institute. We will work together in class to understand what our results mean for the state of our creek, and then apply what we've learned to look at what makes water bodies in general healthy or unhealthy. Click here for photos.