Middle and high school students
At least 2 classroom periods, depending on data collection
Day 1: Read “Full Throttle Model”
Day 2: Site visit and protocols
Full Throttle Model (pdf)
GLOBE Protocols:
Water Transparency
Land Cover Classification
Alternative: Use the GLOBE Observer app Land Cover tool
GLOBE learning activity “Water Walk” (pdf)
Nearly 25 years ago, I started my professional career working for a state agency to monitor lakes and river to make sure they were healthy. This was when I first learned about nonpoint source pollution.
Your students can learn about nonpoint source pollution and how different types of land use can affect the health of the water in lakes and rivers by reading the Natural Inquirer’s “Full Throttle Model” monograph. By reading the article (pages 11–29), they will learn how scientists determined where the potential for problems with water quality were highest around the Great Lakes.
One of my favorite words plays a big part in this article: turbidity! It’s fun to say and easy to measure. (More on that soon.) Turbidity measures how much sediment or other particles are present in the water, making it cloudy, which can be an easy way to monitor the health of water.
Once they’ve read about turbidity and phosphorus in “Full Throttle Model,” have your students conduct the FACTivity (pages 30 and 31). They’ll get a glimpse at how turbidity can impact fish living in water.
If you want to give students a real-world example that shows how our understanding about the impact of our activities on the land affect water quality, have them also read “Time Warp” on pages 34–39. They’ll read about how scientists in the 1950s learned that different methods for managing forests can create more turbidity in water.
Models are useful for helping us determine where to find potential trouble. The best way to know for sure is to collect data in the environment. Now that they have this background knowledge, your students are ready to get outside to look at the land and water.
There are two GLOBE protocols that relate to this theme and are easy to do: Water Transparency and Land Cover Classification. You can conduct both of these protocols at either a stream or a lake.
You will likely use a transparency tube at both sites, particularly if you are taking samples from shore. If you happen to be on a boat (lucky you!) in a large river or lake, you will need to use a Secchi disk. Whether you use a transparency tube or a Secchi disk, GLOBE has instructions for constructing your own transparency tool.
An easy-to-use version of the Land Cover Classification protocol can be found in the GLOBE Observer app Land Cover tool. It requires a smart device.
In addition to these two protocols, the GLOBE learning activity Water Walk (pdf) will help your students learn more about the site where they are collecting data. It can be done in the classroom through research and inviting in people knowledgeable of the area or at the study site by making observations of the water and land around it.
Of course, there are many other GLOBE protocols that could be used with this lesson. A good place to look for ideas is the Water Quality Protocol Bundle.
Make sure to take time to reflect on your data. Do students think their site is polluted? Can they identify a source of the pollution? Are they surprised by what they found?
If you’re not yet trained in GLOBE or you aren’t familiar with the Water Transparency or Land Cover protocols, I recommend that you take the eTraining associated with each protocol as well as the introductory training for the sphere the protocol is associated with.
Water Transparency and the Introduction to Hydrosphere can be found on the Hydrosphere training page.
Land Cover Classification and the Introduction to Biosphere can be found on the Biosphere training page.
Once you have completed a GLOBE training, you can add your students’ data to the GLOBE database. GLOBE’s database contains 30 years of data collected by GLOBE students, educators, and citizen scientists. Learn more about GLOBE Data Entry.
Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by USDA Forest Service Eastern Region (Agreement no. 20-PA-11090100-026). Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA Forest Service.
This blog post is part of the GLOBE and the Natural Inquirer Crosswalk Project. Other blog posts are available on the U.S. GLOBE Teacher Resources page.
Natural Inquirer issues can be downloaded and classroom sets of many issues can be ordered from their website. Find the complete list of issues available and instructions for ordering on the Natural Inquirer website.
