Natural water sources’ health can be affected by many things. Killbuck Creek runs along the River View High School school property, so the environmental science class has been able to monitor a range of chemical and biological indicators of water quality. Students learned about water quality, macroinvertebrates, and methods for testing water quality through the Feed The World curriculum. Instructor Allyssa McMullen attended the Ohio Corn & Wheat-sponsored FTW workshop last summer.
Students learned about factors influencing water quality and how just a small change in the quality of the water can have a dramatic impact on the organisms that call the creek their home. They learned about point source and non-point source pollution and discussed how their creek was being impacted by pollution. The students’ favorite part of the lesson was the macroinvertebrate lab, where they were able to do a diversity index on the macroinvertebrates found in the creek.
McMullen said, “The Feed The World workshop gave me some great resources to make this lesson possible. Not only did they supply me with a complete water test kit, but the workshop discussion helped me visualize how I was going to present it to my students. I developed a stronger lesson because of it. I highly recommend this workshop to anyone who teaches science or agriculture. The curriculum is great. It can be used as is, directly from the website, or tweaked to fit your classroom.”