Upper School Update: Water World

As students learned about the components of an ecosystem, they explored EcoMUVE, a Minecraft-like virtual pond environment created by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. EcoMUVE allows students to learn about correlation and causation, explore the relationship between abiotic and biotic factors, and observe how environmental changes impact water quality over time.

 

It wasn’t long before students were ready to solve a causality mystery, “The Dead Fish Dilemma.” Given a scenario in which all the fish in a pond have died, students used the EcoMUVE platform to collect data from the water, air, and microscopic organisms and then graph their data to track the changes within the ecosystem. Students also interviewed virtual people near the area to gather information about what may have happened. They worked in small groups with defined roles to reconstruct the chain of events into a causality map.

 

The project’s culmination was a presentation where each group presented their “solution” to the scientific mystery, followed by a discussion between comparing the groups’ methodologies and conclusions. Not every group arrived at the same conclusion. Still, Science Department Chair Alex Dixon notes that it provided students a realistic simulation of how scientists test and track water quality. “The students learned how to collect data,” says Alex, “and about the different components that a water tester would track, like pH, turbidity, nitrate and phosphate levels, and how those affect plant and animal species around a watershed.”

 

In October, Kathryn Parent, an Education Coordinator with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, visited life science classes to discuss how the DCR protects and monitors local watersheds. Kathryn brought water collected from different sites around the state, and the students analyzed the quality of their samples, evaluating the pH, nitrate concentration, and turbidity. Students used that information to determine each sample’s most likely water source. For example, a sample that tested high for nitrates might indicate that the source is a watershed near a farming environment where rain has washed fertilizer into the water.

 

During a week of experiential learning, seventh graders ventured to ecosystems around Massachusetts. They traveled to Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, where they investigated the woods and wetlands. They used natural materials to build terrariums and dams and engaged in interactive games to understand connections between animals in an ecosystem. Using water, food coloring, and plastic tablecloths, Alex’s group created landforms, covered them in plastic, and then observed how the water flows when it rains. “That was a strong connection to topics we discussed with EcoMUVE,” says Alex. “Students could see, based on where their land is and how the watershed is formed, how that would impact water quality.” The next day, seventh graders traveled to the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham to learn about the coastal ecosystem. They explored the wet marshes and learned about the creatures that live there and the animal adaptations that enable them to thrive in that environment. On a visit to Coast Guard Beach, students learned about seals and sharks and how the ecosystem is changing due to temperature change and erosion.

 

In tandem with their science studies, seventh graders have been learning about water filters and filtration design in Creators Class. The project was grounded in learning about the global water crisis and the challenge of providing clean drinking water in areas where scarcity, pollution, or disease impact supply. Students constructed and tested water filters using a selection of materials, including plastic bottles, coffee filters, rocks, charcoal, and cotton balls. Students took various approaches, from minimalist designs incorporating multiple coffee filters to more complex systems that used a little bit of everything. As design teachers Deborah Morrone-Bianco and Andrew Shirley poured dirty water into each filter, students could observe how each material impacted the filtration and how the materials combined to affect water flow.

 

Next, students incorporated what they had learned into a challenge to design their own water filter or filtration system. Students conceptualized filters that used sand to filter out debris and heat to purify, filters constructed of sponge and charcoal, and jugs with charcoal and netting filters to purify a family water supply. In addition to their design sheet and water filter prototype, students will also create a digital poster focused on advocacy. Synthesizing what they have learned in the classroom and in the field, students will choose a meaningful message to advocate for clean water and environmental awareness.