Courtney Bockbrader, a Feed the World alumni educator, used the FTW water quality lessons to help prepare her students for a northern Ohio water monitoring initiative. Her Wildlife and Natural Resources class at Anthony Wayne High School used ditch water for the chemical tests and set up a stream simulation for macro-invertebrate identification.
Bockbrader said, “It was a great practice for the Student Watershed Watch next week at the stream that goes by our school. The stream simulation helped students recognize where the macro-invertebrates are found.”
The students were amazed with the results of the phosphorus test, which came in at 0 (no color change). Bockbrader said, “They all thought they did it wrong, but once I explained to them that we don’t want any phosphorus in our water, they thought it was great!”
The chemical tests done by the students are the same tests they’ll do for the Watershed Watch. The sample stream set them up for success as they worked to identify the macro-invertebrates. This is the first year Bockbrader’s students are participating in the Student Watershed Watch, a program through the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments. Students from all over the Toledo area test waterways in their area and then all of the data is collected and recorded.