Waters Academy for Kids
The Water Academy for kids teaches children the importance of aquatic ecosystems in our environment and aims to connect them closer to nature, and to raise their awareness for environmental issues. At the ecosystem research station in Eußerthal, third and fourth graders learn about different topics related to aquatic ecosystems in four modules of varying topics. Exercise sheets and summaries at the end of each module help students find their way around the topics, giving them a strong foundation to work with for tackling the further contents of the modules. They do so by their own merits, using scientific research questions to guide their approach.
The Water Academy for Kids is a cooperation project between the primary school Ramberg and the research station at Eußerthal.
What kind of creatures might live in a creek? Or a pond? How fast is water anyway? How do we determine if something is a creek or a river? Where does the Sulzbach come from? Where does it go? These and other questions guide the way through the four modules of the Water Academy.
1.1 The Water Cycle
Participants get an overview of the different pathways of the water cycle, from ocean, to atmosphere, to land.
1.2 Water Chemistry and Physics
Participants get to perform a variety of chemical and physics experiments to learn about different water properties, such as surface tension and states of matter.
1.3 Flowing Waters
What’s the difference between a creek and a river? Where does a stream come from, where does it go? How strong does a river influence its environment along its path in the landscape? Participants follow these questions in this module which is mostly concerned with flowing waters.
Water Development
River regulation (i.e., canalization) with the goal to increase functionality for humans has been extremely common in the past decades. In consequence, flowing waters lost their natural structures and feasibility as habitats, rendering the natural living space of countless plants and animals destroyed. Water development efforts aim to tackle this issue, working to help aquatic ecosystems to recover from former structures and restore their original functionality. Students learn about the complexities and the importance of water development by conducting experiments to see the issues illustrated at first hand.
3.1 Researching Waters
What does it mean to research something? How do you go about conducting research?? What’s the working environment of a water researcher like? In part one of this module, participants learn about the research process in itself, looking at the research being done at EERES and how scientists there conduct their work.
3.2 Waters
In this part of the module, students learn about the differences between standing and flowing waters and take a set of measurements to find answers to various research questions. Additionally, they examine the water structures and assess their state based on water quality indices.
4.1 Who lives where?
In this part of the module, students learn about the different life forms in standing and flowing waters as well as their different requirements towards their environments and habitats to be able to flourish. Students learn about the needs of these creatures and how to describe them on their own.
4.2 Water Quality
The second part of this module is concerned with the quality of waters. Students learn about the fundamental theories of water quality and get to assess the water quality of the local stream ‘Sulzbach’, by taking samples and determining the local macrozoobenthos.
4.3 Water Pollution
The last part of this module highlights the issue of water pollution. Naturally, the contamination of habitats is a significant issue in the overall topic of habitats. Students conduct experiments to learn about different sources of pollution before finally learning about methods on how to clean and restore water to its former quality.