Developing An Adopt-A-Stream Program for Your School

A Middle School Teacher-Training Workshop (Spring 1997)

For: Language Arts and Science Middle School Teachers (other disciplines may attend, but workshop activities will primarily focus on English and science)

Dates: 8:30 - 3:15 PM each day (except Day 3 at Ford Forestry Center)

Mar. 20-21 (Th-Fri) on MTU campus

Apr. 24-25 (Th-Fri) at Ford Forestry Center

May 23 (Fri.) at MTU in morning and Copper Country ISD in afternoon.

Registration Cost: $75.00 per person includes five lunches, breaks, overnight at Ford Forestry Center, notebooks, and other workshop materials. Registration and substitutes fees, and travel will be covered by Eisenhower funds for schools in the CCISD consortium.

Credit Available: 3.0 CEUs (no charge) or 1 semester credit from NMU ($130 per semester credit) or 2 quarter credits ($107 per quarter credit) from MTU. Cost of university credit is responsibility of participant. Registration for NMU and CEU credit options will be on the first day of the workshop. Those seeking MTU credit, should register before workshop begins.

Presented by: Copper Country Math & Science Satellite Center and the regional Groundwater Education in Michigan (GEM) Center at MTU.

Equipment Provided: Participating interdisciplinary teacher teams from each school in the Copper Country Math & Science Satellite Center will receive $600 of water quality monitoring equipment and materials, plus, a Water Education for Teachers (WET) Curriculum and Activity Guide and a Save Our Streams (SOS) Teachers' Manual. Up to $100 of additional water education materials can be selected by each teacher team.

Workshop Goals:

1) Explore pedagogical reasons for interdisciplinary learning.

2) Model the presentation of an interdisciplinary unit that focuses on watersheds.

3) Link workshop objectives to Michigan Essential Goals & Objectives for Science (MEGOSE), and the Language Arts Core Curriculum Objectives.

4) Provide middle school teachers with the knowledge, tools, and techniques needed to develop their own 3-week watershed/adopt-a-stream unit involving at least two subject areas.

An Adopt-A-Stream Program for Schools

Workshop Agenda (1997)

Day 1	Thursday, March 20 (Ballroom B in MUB at MTU)
8:30-9:00	Introductions & Icebreaker
	Workshop Overview
	Credit Requirements
9:00-9:30	Integrated Thematic Learning (Jim Luoma, Victoria Power, Bruce Belmas, Houghton Middle School)
9:30-10:00	The Relationship Between Interdisciplinary Learning, Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences (Jean Ellis, Copper Country Math & Science Center)
10:00-10:15	Break
	Part I. Watershed - A Unifying Concept on the Landscape & in the Classroom.
10:15-10:30	Why Teach About Water & What Is A Watershed? (Joan Chadde, MTU-GEM Center)
10:30-11:15 11:15-12:00	• Reading & Interpreting topographic maps and aerial photos (Bruce Petersen, Natural Resources Conservation Service) • Delineating the watershed for stream that your class will adopt (topographic maps provided) (Bruce Petersen and Joan Chadde) • Construct a 3-D model of your watershed (Jennifer Williamson, LL-H School)
12:00-12:30	LUNCH
12:30-1:00	Introduction to Save Our Streams and Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guides (Joan Chadde)	- trace outline of watershed for the river they will be studying
1:00-1:45 1:45-2:15	Establish Links Between Different Content Areas (Jean Ellis) Solicit ideas from participants about how to make links between content areas. Teacher Teams Meet
2:15-3:15	Writing A Narrative (Jean Ellis; Sandra Palosaari, L’Anse Middle School; Linda Rulison, Hancock Middle School)

DAY 2	Friday, March 21 (Ballroom B in MUB at MTU)
8:15-9:45	Tour of Portage Lake Wastewater Treatment Facility (in Houghton by MTU Environmental Engineering graduate students)
9:45-10:00	Break
10:00-10:30	Sparkling Water Project WET Activity (Joan Chadde)
10:30-11:00	Group Critique & Feedback (Jean Ellis, Sandy Palosaari, Linda Rulison)
11:00-11:20 11:20-11:45	Human Interactions with the Watershed Over Time. • Role that major rivers of the world have played in history (Linda Rulison) • Designing your watershed tour (Joan Chadde)
11:45-12:15	LUNCH
12:15-1:30	Watershed Tour of Huron Creek (in Houghton)
1:30-2:15	Panel Presentation: Learning from Experience--- Successful Adopt-a-Stream Programs in the Upper Peninsula • Jennifer Williamson (Lake Linden-Hubbell Middle School 8th grade) • Jim Luoma (Houghton Middle School 8th grade) • Adopt-A-Stream/Watershed Programs in schools elsewhere (Joan Chadde)
2:15-2:30	Break
2:30-3:00	Designing Your Investigation of the Stream System - Constructing New Scientific Knowledge
	Human Interactions with the Stream System (Joan Chadde)
	• Land uses and water pollution
	• Enviroscape demonstration of water pollution prevention practices
3:00-3:30	Teacher Teams Meet
	Assignment: Each participant reviews three books, videos, resource trunks, or other water education materials (provided or available from REMC or find yourself) and writes a short description of the content on the form provided, suggested grade levels, and how you might use it in your curriculum.

DAY 3	Thursday, April 24, at MTU's Ford Forestry Center in Alberta
8:30-10:15	Groundwater/Surface Water Interactions • Groundwater flow model (Joan Chadde) • Investigating Groundwater: The Fruitvale Story activity (Jennifer Williamson) • Tapwater testing (Jennifer Williamson)
10:15-10:30	Break
10:30-11:00 11:00-11:20 11:20-11:30	How to Assess the Health of a Stream • Observation skills / sensory vocabulary (Jean Ellis, et. al.) • Biological assessment of streams and rivers: collecting and identifying stream macroinvertebrates (SOS video and Stream Insects & Water Quality video) (Bill Deephouse, Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources) • Water chemistry, physical stream channel measurements & stream habitat evaluation (Joan Chadde)
11:30-12:00	• Selecting a monitoring site and annual sampling schedule (Joan Chadde) • Designing A Successful Field Trip (Jim Luoma & Jennifer Williamson)
12:00-12:30	LUNCH
12:30-3:00 3:00-3:30 3:30-5:00 5:00-6:00	Field Trip to Stream (5 Stations) 1) Stream macroinvertebrates - Bill Deephouse (Dept. Natural Resources) 2) Water chemistry - 3) Physical stream channel data - Bruce Petersen (Natural Resources Conservation Service) 4) Streamside habitat evaluation - Joan Chadde (MTU-GEM Center) 5) Descriptive writing activity (Jean Ellis, et. al.) Break Team Planning Review Educational Resources Free time
6:00-6:30 7:00-7:30 7:30 - 8:30	Dinner Evening Activities (Ford Forestry Center) • “Mrs. Alderson” Play (Sandra Palosaari) & Puppet Show (volunteers) • Videos/Movies/Team Planning/Review educational resources

DAY 4	Friday, April 25, at MTU's Ford Forestry Center in Alberta
8:30-9:15 9:15- 10:00	The Lake Superior Watershed • Geologic History of Lake Superior Basin (Ted Bornhorst, geol. prof., MTU) • History of Mining in the Lake Superior Watershed (Larry Lankton and Terry Reynolds, social science professors, MTU)
10:00-10:15	Break
10:15-11:15	Stream Data Analysis • Interpreting your data (Joan Chadde and Bill Deephouse) • Organizing data for year-to-year comparisons (Jennifer Williamson) • Writing Lab Reports (Marty Stimac, Hancock High School)
11:15-12:00	Communicating Your Knowledge • Student position paper - persuasive writing, video, song (Jean Ellis, et. al.)
12:00-12:30	LUNCH
12:30-1:30	Team Planning Time
1:30-2:00 2:00-2:30	cont. Communicating Your Knowledge • Designing and writing newsletters (Jennifer Williamson, Jean Ellis, et. al.) • Student Presentations (Jean Ellis, et. al.)
2:30-3:00 3:00-3:15	Civic Involvement - Taking Action (Joan Chadde) • Annual river clean-up • Adopt-A-River designation from the DNR • Storm drain stenciling • Water Festivals/Water Day Submit Educational Materials Request Forms

DAY 5	Friday, May 23, at MTU Computer Lab (AM) and CC-ISD (PM)
8:30-9:15 9:15-9:45 9:45-10:00 10:15-10:45 10:45-11:45	Student-Designed Research--- Writing Research Proposals (Jean Ellis and Joan Chadde) Using Technology in the Classroom • Data sharing between schools in CC-ISD (Mike Richardson, CC-ISD Distance Learning Coordinator) Break • Data sharing between schools in UP & State of Michigan by computer (Carl Wozniak, Seaborg Center) • Educational Resources on the Internet (Carl Wozniak, Seaborg Center)
11:45-12:00	Drive to CC-ISD
12:00-12:30	Lunch Buffet at CC-ISD
12:30-2:30	Teacher Teams Make Presentations of their Watershed Unit (10 minutes each)
2:30-3:00	Summary & evaluations. Where Do We Go From Here?
3:00-3:30	Equipment and Materials Distribution to Teacher Teams
‘97-’98 School Year	Suggested future topics • Geographic Information System demonstration and/or teacher training workshop • Wetlands - classroom and outdoor activities • Presentations by invited specialists on selected topics • Activities related to other subject areas • Student Water Congress 3/11/97

Workshop Requirements:

1) Review 3 educational resources: describe content, target age range, and how it could be used in your class (use prepared forms).

2) Working with your team members, design a unit (of any length) that could be implemented at your school next fall.