ENVIRO Institute Applications to
Inner-City High Schools
Carrie Bidwell (Clay High School)
Alicia Harkins (Mishawaka High School)
Emily Zablocki (John Adams High School)
Well Water Testing in the Urban
Setting
Objectives of Well Water Testing
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To learn how to use water particle testing strips
To learn how to use LabQuest testing probes
To learn about water quality
To learn proper water particle levels
To learn about Well Head Protection Areas
To learn about how water is processed in urban
areas vs. rural areas
• To bring University Level research based science
into the high school classroom
Summary of Project
• Students learn background information about
water and well head areas.
• Students then will be introduced to water testing
methods, including using test strips and LabQuest
probes.
• Students will learn how to accurately test for
nitrates, chlorides, pH, and hardness.
• Students will then collect well water samples
from the community, which they will test.
• Students then will evaluate their own results and
compare them to the results of their classmates
and also students throughout the area.
Integration of Well Water Testing in
the Urban Setting
• Have students compare water from the same well
– This would provide additional validity to testing measurements
• Have Notre Dame provide well water samples for the
student population
– This would expand the area tested and provide further
information regarding a larger well head area
• Have students compare well water to tap water from
homes
– This would demonstrate the difference between city treated
water and aquifer water
• Compare tap water through out the school
– This would demonstrate the safety of different more “purified”
waters throughout the school and also serve as a prime example
of why the students should only drink water from the water
fountains which are purified and chilled.
Cross Curricular Ideas
• Math
– Collaborate with Math classes to evaluate and
statistically analyze data collected during the
experiment
• Social Studies
– Provide history of water and background information
regarding the areas that are being tested
• i.e. land development over time
• English
– Write a paper that incorporates Social Studies history,
Biology experiment, and Math calculations, and final
conclusions and thoughts
Best Fit in High School
• While this lab may not meet Biology standards it
does have the ability to be transformed to better
meet Biology standards
– Focus more on how the water gets to the ground from
the water cycle in biogeochemical cycles unit.
• Earth Science and Ecology classes may better
work into the initial design of the experiment
– Teachers should pass this information along to these
teachers to help expand the project and its relevant
applications to science, along with better meeting
science standards
ND Ecology Labs
• How could the resources
available from the Notre Dame
Ecology labs be utilized by the
inner-city high schools?
Stinson-Remick Engineering Building
• The primary functions of the building:
– Provide spaces for undergraduate teaching in the
Learning Center
• Allows students to see same-age peers in college
setting
– Graduate and post doctorate research is done in
various centers and labs.
• Allows students to understand that not all college
students involved in science become physicians
Includes equipment most students (and
teachers) do not realize is available
Clean Room
TEM
SEM
Galvin Labs
McLachlan Lab
Three major projects of
this lab:
1. Evolutionary response to
rising CO2 and its
ecosystem consequences
2. Population shifts in forests
3. Managed Relocation and
other climate change
adaptation strategies
Galvin Labs
Tank Lab
Major projects of this lab:
1. Salmon in Alaska
2. Stream Ecosystem
Ecology &
Biogeochemistry
3. DITCH project
Galvin Labs
Lodge Lab
Major projects of this lab:
1. Freshwater Ecology
2. Invasive Species Biology
and Bioeconomics
3. Ecological Risk Analysis
4. Global Changes and
Biodiversity
5. Environmental Ethics and
Policy
Benefits of the Galvin Labs
• University staff (professors and graduate
students) are VERY willing to invite individuals
into their labs.
• Students that demonstrate an interest in
environmental science would have a specific
project to be involved in.
• Notre Dame had access to equipment not
normally found in high schools.
Place Based Ecology Education
Is it possible in an inner-city school?
• The main purpose of "outdoor education" is
to provide meaningful contextual experiences-in both natural and constructed
environments--that complement and expand
classroom instruction, which tends to be
dominated by print and electronic media
(Knapp, 1996, p. ix).
WHY IS PLACE-BASED EDUCATION
IMPORTANT?
• Some critics of place-based
education believe that the primary
goal of schooling should be to
prepare students to work and
function in a highly technological and
consumer-oriented society.
Will it work for a Urban Classroom?
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Materials
Space
Use
Liability
Motivation (interest)
Match of standards
Materials
• Urban based educators may need to raise
money for project
• Donation from local agencies
• Start a science club?
Space
• Be creative! What is your goal?
• Are you an environmental teacher, biology teacher or
elementary?
• Raised plant beds?
• Corner gardens
• Soil testing
• Bug (insect) finding
• Scavenger hunt
• Water quality testing
Use?
• Create dichotomous key for students identify
species of plants or animals
– Student generated or teacher generated
• Analyze growth patterns of different plants
• Analyze soil for nutrients both biotic and
abiotic factors
Liability (Safety)
• Will they run?
• Can escape? It is in a safe area?
• Can you manage 30+ students at one time to
maintain on task behavior?
• Could students find something that the school
may not want them to find?
Motivation (Interest)
• Environmental Science is an elective in Indiana
High Schools
– Not all schools even offer it, or find enough
students interested in taking it
• Could incorporate into Biology curriculum
Standards
• Where would it fit?
• Environmental
• Biological