LOCAL LAND AND WATER: COLLABORATIVE STREAM MONITORING AND GEOSPATIAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT

Taylor University students and faculty have engaged K-12 teachers and students and community partners in a stream monitoring and geospatial watershed assessment project. This example of place-based environmental education helps students understand the impact of local watershed characteristics on stream quality.

For the stream monitoring component, we invited K-12 educators to a university-led training of Hoosier Riverwatch (HRW), the state volunteer stream monitoring program. As course work, Taylor students in Geomorphology participate in the HRW training session and a service-learning project leading K-12 students in chemical, biological and physical stream monitoring. To perpetuate the stream monitoring activity, we facilitated ongoing sponsorship and monitoring assistance by a local corporation. The stream monitoring days were assessed through the “Field Day Assessment Tool.”

For the geospatial assessment component, Taylor students in Geospatial Analysis evaluated and compiled web-based resources for simple watershed assessment, including geospatial characteristics of geology, soils, topography, hydrology, and land use. Then, students engaged with K-12 teachers to help them understand the source and use of data to investigate the geospatial characteristics of the watershed of their stream monitoring site and the direct links between land use and water quality.

This collaborative outreach project promotes STEM education for K-12 students and teachers with hands-on, interactive, educational activities and improves K-12 teachers’ capabilities to sustain these activities consistent with state educational standards in STEM disciplines. The project improves workforce capabilities for Taylor students by developing awareness of interdisciplinary research in geospatial and watershed sciences and engaging them in design, implementation, management, and assessment of the outreach program.

Participation by community partners will sustain the monitoring project and build a model of collaborative civic engagement between the schools and the corporate sponsor. This pilot project is planned for replication in other area schools, with hope of developing a network of local stream monitoring sites and shared results of watershed assessments.