Black River Water Quality
Black River Water Quality Monitoring Research
Students actively engage in water quality testing (pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, and turbidity) and macroinvertebrate collecting and identification. My two biology colleagues and I have the students compare their results with data from previous years (20 years of data). In 2011, we earned the award, "Water Action Volunteers Citizen Stream Monitoring, for exemplary work in volunteer stream monitoring in the category “Teacher / Classroom.”
Any given school year, approximately 150-175 10th grade biology students participate in the study / data collection. Since 2000, approximately 3200 students from Medford Area Senior High have been impacted by study. For the water quality research project to work, students must have an understanding of how test methods work to gain more from the monitoring inquiry investigation. Prior to the water quality field study investigation, students learn how to use the water quality test kits / probes by performing the tests on classroom fish tanks. Students need to know what measured levels may indicate and how to assure accuracy; this will avoid confusion and error in the field. By engaging in this field study, students compare and learn the importance of monitoring an ecosystem over time.