Agricultural runoff impacts on total maximum daily loads and water quality
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Environmental education is the key
to promoting attitudes and lifestyle behaviors that help ensure
water quality. To this end, the project will also develop a deliver
system to provide training for teachers, materials for use in classrooms
with 6-12 students and information that can be distributed to the
public through the Internet. Teaching and learning research supports
the theory that students learn best when they construct their own
knowledge through a hands-on inquiry-based curriculum. National
Science Standards and Florida's State Standards The teacher team working during the
summer 2002 will be studying an aquaculture system and monitoring
water quality in conjunction with a project supported by FDACS and
FDEP. These teachers will also work with Dr. Liebens to develop
skills in GPS locating and GIS data management for the site. The
training activities will involve 6 teachers in field trips to the
monitoring sites and hands-on activities including technical approach During the summer of 2003 workshops will be continued to provide opportunities for additional teachers to learn how to monitor water quality in model systems such as classroom aquariums, how to use data collected through this project in biology and chemistry lessons in their own classrooms, and how to connect these hands on studies to broader issues of environmental water quality to meet the goals as set forth by The Cooperative Extension System (CSREES-USDA) in their 1998 document, "Strategic Directions for the Water Quality Education Program: FY 1998 and Beyond." Teachers will be selected from applicants in Santa Rosa, and Escambia Counties in Florida and nearby counties in Alabama. Each of these counties has a significant amount of agricultural land use. These teachers will become part of the collaborative to plan and test classroom activities that will become part of an environmental science module that can be exported for use in any high school biology, chemistry or environmental science classroom
For additional information contact Carol
Briscoe
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demand environmental
education at all grade levels. Training teachers in scientific investigation
has been shown to result in their increased use of classroom activities
that involve students in researching original problems. These types
of educational experiences are more likely to prepare students for
the 21st century by increasing their knowledge of the work of scientists
so that they have the knowledge to evaluate scientific claims as
valid or invalid. This project includes educational activities for
teachers and provides materials and activities that trained teachers
can use in their classrooms with grade 6-12 students. The program
is designed to be developed in Three Phases.
es to monitoring water quality, using data collected from the research
supported by this grant to interpret water quality changes, and
the using the web site developed for reporting data. During the
following school year participating teachers will meet to develop
activities for exploring water quality in their own classrooms and
as a support group to change in classroom science teaching to move
toward more experiential science in the context of studying water
quality. 
