Watershed Wonders

Watershed Wonders serves as the day's closing activity, requiring students to draw upon their newly acquired knowledge. After completing the six previous stations, students stay in their group for a simulation of the land use planning process. Each student team assumes a land use scenario (agriculture, urban development, or recreation) and presents reasons why their land use recommendation should be accepted to a panel of County Commissioners.

WA SCIENCE Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs): 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2

Objectives

Students will be able to:

Investigate the watershed concept using local maps and data
Predict how specific land uses will impact water quality
Demonstrate an understanding of community processes, including competition for limited resources

Concepts

Watershed
How land uses affect water quality
Competition for resources
Differing perspectives
Importance of issue awareness and steps to community involvement

Teachers

Classroom Materials

Classroom Pre-work Activities:

2018 WatershedWondersWorksheet
Rainy Day Hike (PDF)- Students identify the watershed in which their school is located and explaing the role the schoolyard plays in the watershed.
Watershed Cartography (PDF)- Students understand the components of a topographic map by delineating a watershed area on a map and reading the map to complete a worksheet.

Find your Way Mapping Exercise (PDF)
Find Your Way Mapping Exercise Answer Key (PDF)
Watershed is Where It's At (PDF)- Students describe the watershed concept, give their watershed address, and cite ways humans affect their watershed.

Field Day Materials

2018 WatershedWondersWorksheet

Activity Leaders

Training Video above - Information about Watershed Wonders is provided in the Introductory Video.
Watershed Wonders Equipment and Procedure Guide (PDF)- An equipment checklist and procedure guidelines for this station (will be added soon!).
Watershed Wonders Station Script (PDF) - A suggested script for guiding students through this station in the field.

Other Materials:

Land-use Scenario Map (PDF)- A map for students to use when developing their land-use plan.
Guide to the Stakeholder Perspectives Cards (PDF)- A guide on how to use the Stakeholder Perspective Cards- cards with individual perspectives and questions that students should be asking/answering throughout the field day in order to help them effectively develop their land-use scenario plan.
Stakeholder Perspective Cards (for group): Note: When printing, select the "Print on both sides" option.

"All streams are but a tributary to the ocean, which itself does not stream, and the shores are unchanged, but in longer periods than man can measure. Go where we will, we discover infinite changes in particulars only, not in generals." - Henry David Thoreau