Students work with partners to examine physical habitat features of streams using virtual reality goggles, and biological quality with macroinvertebrate samples. In each activity, students compare specific habitat characteristics of healthy and impacted streams. Then they will explore how fish use those habitats for food or protection and connect the concepts.

Students experience and participate in citizen science in their own environment. Investigating streams at their school, in their neighborhood, and own backyard. They will make visual observations, record water quality measurements, document their sampling location with a photo and coordinates, and upload information to the online “My Backyard Stream” program through Ohio University found on this website watersheddata.com.

Students will investigate the importance of vegetated riparian zones. They will compare different riparian runoff scenarios through experimentation. Then, students will further investigate one of the important benefits of healthy riparian zones by constructing their own water filters.

After using virtual reality goggles to examine a 360 pond photo, students will share what they already know about pond ecosystems. While investigating a “fish kill” students will then be introduced to seasonal changes within ponds’ temperature profile, and dispersion of oxygen. Students will be able to connect concepts to determine the reason for the “fish kill”, factors that influence “fish kills”, and ways to prevent its occurrence.

Similar to “If You Were a Fish” students will use virtual reality goggles to explore physical habitats of streams and compare macroinvertebrate samples from two streams to assess biological quality. This lesson plan adds a water chemistry component with a higher level critical thinking questions, and upper-level content.

Following an introduction to acid mine drainage, students will work individually or in groups to collect, graph and analyze chemical or physical data from local watersheds. Students will select a site, locate real chemical or biological data for that site in the www.watersheddata.com database, and create scatter plot or time series graphs. This activity encourages analysis, prediction and mathematical skill.