My students need materials such as a Class Soil Test Kit, ten ph paper sets and Cleaning Up Oil Spills with Oil-Hungry Bacteria Lab, to identify contaminants in soil and water. I am asking for soil and water testing supplies. I am also asking for a soil class set.
When you say soil in the 8th grade, students automatically check out. I teach soil and water in a unit where students are given a real world problem related to the area in which they live. They then cover the skills necessary as we identify the problem and try to remedy it.
My students live in a rural high poverty area.
Employment opportunities are minimal. Most of the better paying jobs are in education, Game and Fish, or monitoring the dam. These skill tie directly into fields these students could actually one day pursue. Students do not have a background knowledge in soil and water but do have an appreciation of the environment and for the most part they are avid hunters and fisherman, even the girls.
My Project
My students need materials such as a Class Soil Test Kit, ten ph paper sets and Cleaning Up Oil Spills with Oil-Hungry Bacteria Lab, to identify contaminants in soil and water. Students will be presented with a problem: The fish are dying in the Grey Area and washing up on shore. This is causing a terrible odor and people are concerned.
The students will determine the reason the fish are dying in the area. They will look at various reasons for the large number of fish that have died. We will look at factories, cattle ranches, golf course, over-grazing, and animal populations.
We will do various experiments and gather data. We will test for acidity and turbidity of the water. We will see if logging causes problems. We will look at streams where clear cutting has occurred. We will look at the deer population before and after you were able to hunt for mountain lions. We will also compare bird populations over the past twenty years. We will also do a chromatography test to see where the oil is coming from in the lake. Students will hold town meetings and decide how to solve the problem once they know what the problem is.
Students will conduct several experiments with the emphasis on gathering, recording, and interpreting data.
The Scientific Method will be emphasized in all experiments with results recorded in a scientific lab journal, kept by each student. Students will develop a testable hypothesis and then construct and conduct the experiment. The students will demonstrate various ways to present data and will learn to read and create various types of graphs and charts. They will be scientists!
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