Google Earth Water Quality Data tour

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:24:12 -0400

Google Earth has been a great resource throughout this project. Before I left, students used the program to view the geography of the areas I would be visiting. When I returned and they were analyzing the data I collected, they were able to use the GPS coordinates I recorded to zoom in on each area and get a sense of both the natural and human-made environment around the water source. Today, some of the students who were done with their research prepared a Google Earth Tour that takes visitors to each water collection site and includes all of the data collected. One of these tours is attached to this page. If you already have Google Earth (and if you don’t, download it here, it’s free!) you can download and double click on the file and you will be transported to Peru to learn about water quality in several exciting locations

Thanks to many

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:20:32 -0500

This project has been such an adventure and is only the beginning of more exciting learning experiences and opportunities. Since I have returned, I have been contacted by several people who are interested in networking in the future to create more opportunities that educate people about water quality issues and/or promote global awareness. This would not have been possible without the help of so many people. I mentioned several of them in my Synergy blog entry before I left on my trip but I want to be sure to acknowledge them again.

Dr. Michael Searson - professor at Kean University, organizer of the Peru iStory Tour and fellow Apple Distinguished Educator. Thanks for making this all possible by inviting me on the tour, encouraging me to come, and involving your pre-service teachers in our project. I’m so grateful that we were able to collaborate on this unique learning experience.
This was the ultimate “Yes and...” in so many ways!

Dr. Randy Yerrick - professor at Buffalo State University and fellow Apple Distinguished Educator. Thanks for your help in brainstorming ideas for our project, for connecting us with PASCO, and for your ongoing support as a science educator. Your phone calls, emails, and video conferences have been truly appreciated by and inspiring to the teachers and students involved in this project.

Brett Sackett - Technical Sales Representative for PASCO Scientific. Thanks for your generous donation of the probeware equipment and for all of the time you spent helping Mrs. Gafni and me learn to use it effectively. Your patient explanations and advice and consistent replies to our phone calls and emails gave us the confidence we needed to be successful in the classroom and in the field.

Diana Paipa - student pursuing Bilingual Education credential at Kean University. Thanks for your invaluable assistance with collecting water samples, late-night water quality testing sessions, and Spanish translation. You put your hands in some pretty disgusting water in the name of science and still managed to smile through it. There is no way that I could have accomplished as much as I did without your help. Your positive attitude, curiosity, and generosity inspired me to do more than I had originally planned.

Elisa Pianka - student pursuing Secondary English credential at Kean University. Thanks for serving as the official photographer on most of our water collection adventures. The students have learned so much from your images. Thanks also for your some great bus conversations, for your late-night blogging sessions that inspired me to do more, and for your ongoing interest in educational technology and in the outcome of our project.

Edwin - EF Tour Guide. Thanks for putting up with this crazy group and for going out of your way to customize the experience to meet our needs. The cultural excursions and local guides you arranged for us were truly enriching. Your local expertise and assistance in setting up opportunities for planting the geocache and for collecting water in Cusco was really appreciated. Thanks for taking 18 shots of the same group photo with everyone’s camera. Finally, thanks for getting us up early almost every day as it meant that we had more hours in the day to experience your beautiful country!

Santos Castilla Jimenez- local Cusco artist and friend of Edwin. Thanks for taking us around Cusco and for making sure we were safe as we went in search of technology supplies and water samples. And thank you for sharing your time and your artwork with us.

MaryLuz Yanqui Quispe- Local Tour Guide in Cusco. Thanks for sharing your culture and insights with us and for your suggestions of and assistance with finding different water sources to test. Talking with and learning from you was truly a highlight of the trip for me.

My fellow travelers - I had never met you before I landed in Lima and nine days later, I felt I was leaving my family behind. Thank you for making me feel welcome, for your assistance and interest in our project, and for sharing this profound experience with me.
Mike, Diana, and Elisa - you already had your own special thank you above :-)
Rebecca - thanks for being a great roommate. I really enjoyed hanging out with you and appreciated how easy going you were with my crazy late-night hours.
Kathy - thanks for sharing Mike with us, for tolerating our late-night technology work sessions, and for your company on souvenir shopping adventures.
Tim & Ann - thanks for interesting dinner and bus conversations, for picking up the container for our geocache, and for your wonderful stories about your experiences off the beaten path in Cusco.
Marilyn - thanks for your infectious enthusiasm, it made each new discovery even more exciting.
Colleen - thanks for good company and conversation and especially for telling me about the Inca cross.
Priscilla - thanks for being a part of this experience.
Frank - thanks for being my personal photographer, for sharing your birthday with us, and for always watching out for us in some sketchy situations.
Nikki - thanks for your sharing your passion for Machu Picchu with us.
Rosa - thanks for some great conversations in Cusco. I enjoyed to getting to know you.
Erin & Jen - thanks for your help with photos and data collection at Machu Picchu and for your fashion guidance in bathing suit selection in Aguas Calientes :-)
Karina - thanks for your positive energy and for your help with interpreting the geocache clues and foraging through the woods in search of the cache.
Geseth - thanks for sharing your photos, audio files, and life experiences with me. I’d get lost in Cusco with you anytime!

Otto Benevides - professor at California State University, Fresno and fellow Apple Distinguished Educator. Thank you for providing the Spanish translation of the letters that we placed in the Geocache that we planted in Cusco, Peru.

Michael Urbach, school liason at PALI Camp in Arrowhead, thanks for your interest in working with us to incorporate our project into the students’ experience at PALI and for re-arranging the schedule to make it work.

Mayo, Jeff, & Mark, instructors at PALI Camp in Arrowhead California. - thanks for your willingness to collaborate with us in our study of water quality and for your insightful interactions with the teachers and students of Echo Horizon.

Paula Dashiell - Head of School at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for seeing the possibilities and for supporting this project.

Cori Gafni - 6th Grade Science & Social Studies Teacher at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for your willingness to collaborate with me in developing this unit and for finding so many relevant connections to our 6th grade science and social studies curriculum. I’ve truly enjoyed working, learning, and teaching with you on this project.

Marci Vogel - 6th Grade Language Arts Teacher at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for your wonderful geocaching lesson and for being open to other ways this project can be integrated into the Language Arts program.

Jennifer Russell - Outdoor Trip Coordinator at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for helping us make the connections that enabled us to integrate this project into the students’ outdoor science school experience at PALI.

Jenn Mascolo - Deaf and Hard of Hearing Resource Teacher at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for your help collecting water samples and data at Ballona Creek and for your support in the classroom throughout the project.

Daniel Gomez - Technology Assistant at Echo Horizon School. Thanks for holding down the fort back at school when I was gone and for making sure the video chat went smoothly.

Water quality Question #5 from Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:28:12 -0500

How can you, as responsible citizens, make it better in your area? How can you be better stewards of the environment and fresh water for your community? What can you do?

Water quality Question #4 from Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:23:41 -0500

Are we responsible for taking care of other places? Is this a global problem that everyone is responsible for solving or do we all just use what we think we need without regard for others who have less access to fresh water? (example: The Rio Grande runs from the US into Mexico. US Farmers have used so much of the water from the Rio Grande that some people in Mexico are starving.)

Water quality Question #3 from Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:21:36 -0500

Whose responsibility is it to keep the water clean? Do we just rely on the federal or national government to take care of those things?

Water quality Question #2 from Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:18:12 -0500

For people who don’t care about their water, or seem to care about other things more than water, should we let them go? Should we just let them do what they care about or should we alert them to the facts of what they are doing?

Water quality Question #1 from Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:10:07 -0500

Did you get the sense that, near the Rimac River and other places that Ms Wrenn visited in Peru, people there were as concerned about water as you are?

Video Chat with Dr Yerrick

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:41:22 -0500

Today we had the privilege of talking to Dr. Randy Yerrick, a scientist and professor in the School of Education at Buffalo State University in New York. Dr. Yerrick teaches teachers how to teach science and he has had a lot of experience studying water quality in different areas of the world. Our students prepared MANY number questions to ask Dr. Yerrick and he spent about 15 minutes in the morning and another 45 minutes after lunch sharing his knowledge with us! He started out the chat by congratulating us on not just looking at science for the sake of science but, rather, looking at social factors and human factors that effect the environment. He complimented the students on how thoughtful and in-depth their questions were and said he had even shared some of them with his colleagues at the University and that they were very impressed (we had emailed him our questions last night so he could have some time to think about the answers). After the students had asked him a number of questions, he had some questions for them to consider. I’m going to post each one as a separate entry in my blog so that the students can respond to them.

We recorded the videoconference but it is almost 200MB so it’s too big to put on this website. However, Mrs. Gafni typed in a text chat window during the conference so that people could read the text in case they couldn’t understand the speakers. She types fast! Here is an unedited copy of the transcript (keep in mind that she was typing in real time so she may have missed a few things and she and didn’t have time to fix typos.)

YERRICK CHAT TRANSCRIPT.pdf

Water Quality at PALI

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:26:27 -0500

Tuesday after lunch, Group 1 headed out for the Water Quality class with Mayo. Wednesday morning, Group 2 got to learn about water quality from Mark and Group 3 went out with Jeff on Wednesday afternoon. We collected and analyzed water from three separate locations. At the first site, they had to cut a hole in the ice with an axe so that we could collect our sample! Some data had to be collected on site and other readings could be done inside the Yerts which are platform tents with space heaters. It was pretty cold, both outside and inside, but everyone worked together to get the job done.

Click here to see data collected at each site.

Click here to see photos of the collection sites and of students collecting and discussing data.

Off to the Mountains in California

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:35:40 -0500

I was home long enough to catch up on some sleep, unpack, do laundry, and pack again before taking off to Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. Our sixth graders are attending science camp at the PALI Institute. One of the classes taught at the camp is Water Quality. Mrs. Gafni and I were able to meet with the Director of the camp and the 3 instructors in charge of this class yesterday to determine how we could blend the concepts we have already taught our students and the probeware equipment with the concepts and tablet tests that they usually use at PALI. Michael, Mayo, Jeff, and Mark were very excited and open to collaboration and came up with a great plan.

I find myself really missing Peru, but being in the mountains has been an nice way to ease back in to life back here which is so vastly different from Peru. It was great to see the kids and teachers, to catch up on what had happened when I was gone, and to share some of my experiences from Peru with them.

This morning we all participated in the high ropes course which was fun, challenging, scary, and rewarding. The kids were all very supportive of each other and really challenged themselves.

The kids are divided into 3 groups and we will have 3 separate water quality classes - one this afternoon, one tomorrow morning, and one tomorrow afternoon. Mayo, Jeff, and Mark will lead one class each and Mrs. Gafni and I will bring along the probes.