Water on the Go! Great Lakes Watershed Education from Cranbrook Institute of Science
Water on the Go! brings watershed education directly to your classroom.
The 5th grade program How We Use Water engages students in activities designed to increase their awareness of the importance of preserving our water resources.
Students start each program with Globe Toss, a game using inflatable globes to determine how much of the earth's surface is covered water. This activity is followed by others that explore the water cycle, the availability of freshwater on Earth, water in our daily lives and how water is an essential component of Michigan's economy and environment. Students then study the impact humans have through daily usage and discuss what we can do to help conserve this most precious resource. The program concludes with an astounding quiz about how much water is needed for the things we use everyday—as an example, it may only be one egg but it takes 120 gallons of water to produce it!
This program expands to include follow up visits in the 2008-2009 6th grade and 2009-2010 7th grade school years.
I Live in a Watershed? (6th grade)
Students will create a model watershed that demonstrates water flow and impact of point source and non-point source pollution. Students use maps of their watershed to understand their connection to the environment, their water source and the Great Lakes. Time 45 minutes.
Stream Investigation (7th grade)
Led by a Cranbrook educator students will perform water quality tests and learn how human activities and pollution can impact our watersheds and the waterways within them. Using microscopes students will identify aquatic macro invertebrates and understand the connection between which macro invertebrates are present and how they can be indicators of the health of the water body.
This program can be done out in the field with older students at a local river or stream or in the classroom for those schools who may not have access to a river or stream. Students will perform chemical analysis and a macro invertebrate survey modeled after existing stream-monitoring programs. Time 3 hours in field, or 90 minutes in classroom.
Due to generous funding from the DTE Energy Foundation, this program is free in designated areas throughout Michigan. Please call 248-645-3278 or email marquette@cranbrook.edu to find out if your school is eligible for a free program.
Sponsored by:
Rouge River Water Festival
This year’s festival, held Sept. 13-15, Nearly 1,700 participants enjoyed a half-day of hands-on watershed ecology and awareness activities. Twenty-one schools from thirteen different Oakland County Rouge communities attended the annual event, now in its fourth year. Over eighty presenters volunteered at the event representing thirty-five different public and private organizations and included. Funding for the festival came from a National Wet Weather Demonstration grant from the US EPA. The grant provides a 50% match, corporate sponsors of the event are: Oakland Plus, Tetra Tech, Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick, Inc., D’Angelo Brothers Inc. Cranbrook has been approved for funding to repeat the festival for 2007. Next years dates are September 12, 13, and 14 2007. For more information: email Michele Arquette-Palermo or call (248) 645-3240.
What is a Water Festival?
Water festivals are designed to help fourth & fifth-grade students learn about the importance of water and how it is used in their daily lives. The objective of a water festival is to provide students with activities to help them understand water resource related issues. Some of these issues include:
Ecosystems
Biodiversity
Polluted vs unpolluted water
Urban vs rural settings
Wetlands
Geosphere
The Great Lakes
The river
Streambank erosion
Impacts on habitat
Hydrologic Cycle
Sources of pollution
Wastewater treatment
Surface water
Creeks and streams
The 2007 Rouge River Water Festival at Cranbrook Institute of Science will take place on September 12-14 and will accommodate up to 3,000 students. The water festival is a half-day educational experience for students from Rouge River Watershed community schools in Oakland County. Students will learn about the central role water and the Rouge River play within their region. Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, situated on three sub-branches of the Rouge River, offers an outstanding learning environment.
Each class will attend a series of outdoor and indoor presentations. Presentations will be 30 minutes and will be designed, as much as possible, to be interactive, hands-on learning experiences. All presentations and exhibits relate to water, its uses, and critical importance to us and our environment.
Approximately two weeks before the Water Festival, each registered school will receive a Water Festival package outlining their day's events and listing any other important information.
Who are the Presenters and Exhibitors?
Possible presenters and exhibitors include: professionals from local, state and federal government agencies, natural resource groups, environmental consultants, universities, museums, and industry. We also try to include middle school and high school student presenters when possible.
What are the Educational Benefits?
Each teacher will leave the Water Festival with a water resource curriculum guide, reviewed by local educators and water resource professionals, and developed to support state MEAP requirements. Each water resource guide is filled with ideas to further implement a water-based curriculum in the classroom.
Presentations offered at the Water Festival are intended to reinforce the current science curricula taught at elementary schools throughout the Rouge River Subwatershed.
Who is invited to attend the 4th Annual Rouge River Water Festival?
All fourth & fifth grade classes in Oakland County Schools that are within the Rouge River Watershed. However, space is limited to approximately 3,000 students.
What is the cost?
This educational event is free to schools. Additionally, all Water Festival presenters, exhibitors and volunteers provide their time and expertise for free.
For more information contact: Michele Arquette-Palermo at (248) 645-3240
The Rouge River Water Festival at Cranbrook Institute of Science is funded in part by the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grant #XP995743-01-06 and #C995743-01.
Summer Camp
Camps at the Institute offer children an opportunity to meet new friends, explore the natural world and become creative problem-solvers while learning how everything in the universe is connected. Fast-paced daily sessions are supervised and facilitated by our museum educators and designed to ensure that every child has an extraordinary time. For more information, contact program registration at 248.645.3210.
Distance Learning
Experience unique science programs presented by expert staff at the Institute brought to you via videoconferencing. Watershed Ecology is custom tailored to the requestor’s watershed using maps and other scientific tools. Students will gain appreciation for nature and our most precious resource -- water -- through this investigative program. The program includes a teacher's guide, session outline, references, resources and activity kits. Also available through distance learning: teacher professional development training. Programs and fees vary. For more information about teacher training options call 248.645.3241.
Rouge Fest
Learn about the central role water and the Rouge River play within our region. Join area educators and other professionals in investigations in and about the watershed. Discover how your actions affect the Rouge River and the Great Lakes in this engaging and informative event.
Scouts in Science
Local Girl and Boy Scouts develop a sense of responsibility for other living things and our environment as they explore different habitats on Cranbrook’s 319-acre campus. Children will discover the importance of soil conservation and management, study the Rouge River and learn the impact humans have on the watershed. For more information, contact program registration at 248.645.3210.
School Group Programs
Parents and teachers agree that a field trip to the Institute enhances a child's understanding of concepts taught in school and sparks the fire of interest in further exploration. Each of our programs is written and designed to correlate with the Michigan Essential Goals and Objectives for Science Education and Michigan Curriculum Frameworks (MCF). For more information, contact program registration at 248.645.3210.
