Extensions and Variations of the Water Quality Studies The following extensions and variations are in the beginning stages of development. These are choices that students could make above the required skills or activities to complete a unit. Students would choose what interests them and their way to present the findings. If they had other ideas , they could propose it to their teacher. A key part of the below plans would be for the student to include use technology in completing the assignment. Students might use the following form to propose their plans.
Technology ComponentsStudent________________________Activity____________________________________
Technology Components Used:
HTML document
Spreadsheet
Electronic Graph
Java Applet
Web Search
Scanning Picture
Digital Camera
Video
Audio
Javascript
Animation
Beginning date___________Completed Date____________Points Possible____________
Activities
Basic------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->Abstract
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Creative Thinking
Critical Thinking
Explain how the water cycle works using a working model.
Describe causes of surface water pollution in Central Illinois streams
After completing the Personal Water Usage activity, construct a graph that compares population to water usage for Urbana over an extended time. Are people using more water per capita?
Compare the effect of pollution during high rainfall years and its effect in low rainfall years.
Design ways that Urbana Middle School could safely reduce its water usage
Using the Department of Natural Resources Critical Trends report as a starting point, evaluate whether the quality of water based on chemicals found in it is improving or getting worse.
What is a fish consumption advisory?List advisories found in this area.
Acrobat Reader must be installed to access this data through Illinois DNR.
Describe how aquatic plants affect the pollution in a stream. Give specific examples of plants found in this area.
Construct a food chain of organisms that are found in the stream or pond you studied.
Analyze which members of the food chain are most threatened by poor water quality. How does it affect the chain or food web?
Create a vivd, visual, educational, advertising page to promote conservation of water and water quality.
Using the Department of Natural Resources Critical Trends report as a starting point, evaluate whether the quality of water based on the number and types of fish is improving or getting worse
Java Applet Sites
Expodential Growth: Kill the Salmon
This Virtual Lab applet from the University of Oregon asks can you construct a scenario that preserves the salmon for 1000 years? It relies on the concept that population growth drives the demand for power which in turn requires more power generation capacity which in turn has environmental concepts. It requires Netscape 4.04 and HotJava 1.2. It has not been tested on the Mac platform.
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