Harpers Ferry Middle School Partnership
Dr. Robin Good instructs students in water testing at the Elks Run
Harpers Ferry Middle School is working in collaboration with the Elks Run Watershed Study Committee to study and advocate good stewardship of the local Elks Run Watershed. Several science teachers are incorporating the topic of watersheds into their curriculum. Dr. Robin Good, the 8th grade science teacher, uses the Elks Run Watershed as the main theme of the school year. There are five components to Dr. Good's watershed curriculum.
FIRST CURRICULUM COMPONENT: BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE WATERSHED
The first component of the Harpers Ferry Middle School watershed curriculum has to do with learning what a watershed is and about the "water trail"—the path the water takes as it flows from its source (a spring on Buckles farm) to the endpoint in the Atlantic Ocean. During this unit, Mr. Riss, a member of the Watershed Committee, spends a day with Dr. Good's classes showing students the topography of the watershed using Google Earth on the internet. Students also take a fieldtrip to the Harpers Ferry Water Treatment Plant where they observe the Elks Run stream, catch and identify macro-invertebrates that live in the stream, perform water tests, and take a tour of the water treatment plant.
Up to this point, students have learned two important things about the "water trail:" where the water for our watershed comes from and how this water is purified and made drinkable. The science classes continue to follow this "trail" by learning how the water gets from the water treatment plant to our homes. After we use it in our homes, the water then goes to the sewage plant to get purified again before it is discharged into the Shenandoah River. Students find out that the "trail" does not end at the Shenandoah River but that the water will continue to flow from the Shenandoah River downstream to the Chesapeake Bay and then finally into the Atlantic Ocean. During this unit, several issues are studied and critically analyzed:
- How can I and my family help to conserve water?
- How can my school help to conserve water?
- How can my community help to conserve water?
- Is the water that is treated by the sewage plant adequately safe for the plants and animals that live in the Shenandoah River and Chesapeake Bay?
SECOND CURRICULUM COMPONENT: WEST VIRGINIA STATE SCIENCE STANDARDS AND THE WATERSHED
A second component of the curriculum connects the watershed theme to the West Virginia state science standards. In middle school, science exposes students to many of the branches of science: biology, microbiology, genetics, chemistry, physics, environmental science, geology, astronomy, and meteorology. Dr. Good teaches about these branches of science by relating and connecting them to the Elks Run Watershed theme. For example, when learning about biology, students learn about the plants and animals that live in the local watershed and about their habitats. When studying microbiology, students examine samples of water from the Elks Run stream under the microscope and identify microorganisms that live in it. When learning about chemistry, students perform water tests every month on water samples taken from Elks Run to monitor water quality.
THIRD CURRICULUM COMPONENT: IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF POLLUTION IN THE WATERSHED
A third component of the curriculum is to identify any sources of pollution and/or degradation to the quality of the water in Elks Run Watershed. Students read the Resource Assessment Report for the Elks Run Watershed, a report prepared by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. They listen to guest speakers from the Watershed Committee and other local environmental organizations, and take fieldtrips to understand point and non-point pollution sources and how to identify present and future degradation problems. Students find that degradation can be caused by a variety of factors: agriculture, industry, trains, commercial businesses, residential developments, and leakage from sewage pipes or septic tanks.
FOURTH CURRICULUM COMPONENT: ACTION PLAN
The forth component of the curriculum is for students to devise and implement an action plan to address some of the degradation problems. With the help of guest speakers from local organizations, for example, students may decide that planting trees to prevent erosion and soil run-off would be an appropriate course of action in a particular area of the watershed. Or they may decide that planting native plants along sections of Elks Run stream banks would be a solution to bank erosion or building fences along agricultural sections of Elks Run would prevent cows from wading into the stream and defecating in it. Students then undertake at least one of their ideas from the action plan.
FIFTH CURRICULUM COMPONENT: EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
The last component of the Elks Run Watershed curriculum is educational outreach. Students are involved in educating others about the local watershed. These are some of the activities that students do:
- Teach one adult three things about the watershed.
- Educate their family about water usage and ways to conserve water at home.
- Educate their family about what they can do in their home and on their property to prevent pollution/degradation of the water supply. For example, use non-toxic household cleaners and limit the use of herbicides on the lawn.
- Identify ways to conserve water at Harpers Ferry Middle School. Develop an action plan and present it to the principal. Put ideas from the plan into action by getting the entire school involved.
- Create brochures about water quality in our watershed and mail them to community residents.
- Create and teach a lesson about water and the watershed to area elementary school students.
- Write a play about the watershed and perform it for Harpers Ferry Middle School and other schools in the area.
- Make a video about the watershed and how to be good stewards of it and show it to our school, other schools, and to organizations in the community.
- Help the Watershed Study Committee develop their website to make it more "kid" attractive.
- Write articles for the local newspapers about things we are doing in our class and school related to the watershed. Also write articles that educate the community about Elks Run Watershed and how to be good stewards of it.
- Construct a rain garden to filter water before it enters the groundwater supply.