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= Considering the Overall Curriculum Expectations for the Gr. 8 Water Systems Strand in the [|Ontario Elementary Science Curriculum], =

1. assess the impact of human activities and technologies on the sustainability of water resources; 2. investigate factors that affect local water quality; 3. demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of the earth’s water systems and the influence of water systems on a specific region.

= And the specific expectations, =

1.1 evaluate personal water consumption, compare it with personal water consumption in other countries, and propose a plan of action to reduce personal water consumption to help address water sustainability issues 1.2 assess how various media sources (e.g., Canadian Geographic; the science section in newspapers; Internet websites; local, national, and international news on television and radio) address issues related to the impact of human activities on the long-term sustainability of local, national, or international water systems

= An STSE project to emerge might be, =

For the purposes of this site I will assume that a small group makes senses of these expectations by embedding their study of water systems in a local issue. There is a stormwater pond within walking distance of our school that we visited this year to study wetlands. When we visited the pond we noticed that there were dead birds, dead crayfish, lots of garbage and a lack of diversity of animals and birds. Our conclusion was that is was an unhealthy, polluted ecosystem.

A group of students (potentially the whole class, but in this case I assume a group of 3) could shape an action project around rehabilitation and stewardship of the ecosystem. The project would evolve based on guiding questions generated by the students. Is this a healthy ecosystem? What is the quality of water? What negatively impacts the ecosystem/water quality? What can be done to advocate for improvements? What can be done to assist in improvements (e.g. what can students do? build? plant? clean? advocate for?) How is water quality/ecosystems downstream of stormpond affected?. The teacher would act as coach, working with students in identifying science and technology ideas/concepts that could help the students understand the situation. The project could be visualized like this,

Activism
- OVERALL: Take on stewardship and advocacy role for the storm water pond ecosystem and its impact on water quality - recommend ways to improve water quality and ecosystem health based on scientific data collected and research gathered from secondary resources - network with NGOs (e.g. [|Credit Valley Conservation Authority] or [|Region of Peel Water Department]) to gather information and also share resources for taking action - network with NGOs to take action (e.g. [|Yellow Fish Road]) - take concrete action (e.g. organize clean up days and post signage to discourage garbage) - educate local communities about how their actions (pouring chemicals down city drains) impacts water quality and the storm water pond ecosystem - possibly investigate run off reduction projects (e.g. reduce runoff at school by diverting gutter water to school gardens or holding tanks for watering soccer field)

**Technology and Science (Researching science and doing science)** - gather information (print, web, interviews with city engineers/parks recs) about storm water technology/systems and their role in water management - use scientific (ecology and environmental science) methods to assess the health of the ecosystem including water quality (e.g. water sampling, gathering population data on animals, plants and biodiversity) - use scientific (ecology and environmental science) methods to study the impact of weather events on the ecosystem including water quality (e.g. water sampling after a significant rain event) - use scientific (ecology and environmental science) methods to study changes in the eco-system/water quality during different seasons - investigate the impact of action projects (e.g. water sampling after Yellow Fish Road painting project implemented) on water quality and water management - investigate or invent alternative (or complementary technologies) used in other jurisdictions to improve on current storm water management systems - investigate (assess and measure) amount of water run off on school grounds (perhaps specifically from school gutter system)

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