Week Nine and Ten

Inside of Willow Bend! Tori, their building won
a sustainability award!

Hello all! 
A lot has progressed with my SRP these past couple of weeks!

Week Nine

I met with Cassandra last week to go over the pretest and posttest for the Alpine 6th graders. I developed the tests to be half multiple-choice, content-based questions, and the other half to learn about the students' attitudes toward water conservation by using scaled-response questions. For example, a content-based question would ask: "What is the definition of potable water?" and an attitude-based question would ask "I feel that conserving water is very important" with options varying from strongly agree to strongly disagree. My hope is that I can analyze the change in both the students' knowledge of water conservation and their attitude toward it. 

In my meeting, Cassandra approved my pretest, and we sent it to Cree, the teacher of the Alpine 6th graders (who have since taken the test). We also went over my classroom presentation. I have changed the second half of the lesson. Instead of doing a Socratic session (since that would probably be a bit boring), I worked with Cassandra to develop a different hands-on activity to keep the kids engaged and focused. 

Stack of Amazing Pretests

We used another Project WET lesson for the framework of the presentation. In this activity, we will place a bucket of water on the floor of the classroom (with a tarp underneath and towels ready). The students will sit in a circle around the bucket and will receive their own personal containers for water. Next, I simulate the development of Flagstaff as a town. To begin, a few students will receive small sponges. They represent the settlers or homesteaders of early Flagstaff, who used only a small amount of water in their daily lives. I want to talk about our own water supply (Lake Mary and ground water) to help make the lesson more applicable. The students will take 1 minute to take as much water from the bucket to their individual containers. Then, the town begins growing. There are more residents and farms. We repeat the same procedure except with more students and larger sponges. Eventually, we will end up with an industrialized city with very little to no water. 

View from Willow Bend

The point of the lesson is to get the kids to reflect and think about possible solutions to reduce water consumption, not on a personal level, but on a local city-wide level. Dr. Hartman asked me a good question recently: "Tell me more about environmental federalism... Why does that policy structure appeal to you?"

To answer, I feel that current water conservation education techniques focus too much on the individual level. In reality, much of our water waste and consumption comes from agriculture and industry. While everyone can work on individual consumption, there is a ton of room for improvement by the private sector. I would like the students to understand that there needs to be an effort made by both businesses and individuals to create a sustainable rate of water consumption, and that the government plays a key role in making sure this happens. 

Going back to the concept of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, I want the kids to understand that they can (and need to) make a difference by voicing their opinions. By illustrating water conservation in a federalist manner, I believe that the students will grasp the role of government in water conservation more easily, and I hope that it will make them more likely to be active in their local governments. 

During the weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. It was amazing to see the capitol, EPA, Smithsonian Museums and so much more! 

Week Ten

The Environmental Protection Agency building

This week, I met with Cassandra again for a dry or "wet" run of the lesson and presentation. I created my official lesson plan (for other teachers to follow), and I felt good about our practice run through the lesson. I will be presenting to the Alpine kids at 7:30 AM on Monday, so I hope they will wake up fast! For the rest of the weekend, I will just be practicing the lesson and gathering any last minute materials. 

I also received the pretest results from the class. So far, I have just been plugging in data into Microsoft Excel. I have yet to analyze the results, but from what I have seen so far, the kids have some knowledge of water conservation; however, there is a lot of room for improvement. 

Screen Shot of the Pretest Data

I'm very excited to see if my lesson makes any difference in the post-test results! Cree will have the Alpine students take the post test either sometime next week, so from here on out, I will simply be analyzing data! That might sound lame, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm hoping to apply some of the concepts I have learned in my statistics class to analyze the data (maybe I can even make Mr. Lamb proud).

My brother, friend, and I in front of Obama's house.
Don't forget to drink more water.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I highly doubt I will make Mr. Lamb proud.

Week Seven and Eight

Hello everyone!

I just got back from a rafting trip down the Salt River. It was a whole bunch of fun (and I'm a little disappointed to be back in school/inside)! Here's what I've been up to the past couple of weeks!

The Salt River

Francis Short Pond

I had the opportunity to work with the Flagstaff Stream Team at Flagstaff Junior Academy by Francis Short Pond. The Stream Team is partnered with the city to learn about environmental conservation and the Rio specifically. It was really cool to see how involved the city was in the protection and maintenance of both the Rio and Picture Canyon. A guest speaker from the city came out to teach us how to describe and explain the condition of different sections of streams called reaches. My friends and I from the Grand Canyon Youth Outdoors Club volunteered to help the fifth graders  fill out their worksheets that the city would actually be using to examine whats needed around the Pond. It was nice to see that there are different organizations involved in teaching youth about the importance of water.

Then I had a great hike in Sedona down Boynton Canyon (I definitely recommend it)!

Now, I have really delved into the activities I will be presenting the Alpine class with later this month. As I have stated before, my main objective with my lesson is to help the kids to truly understand that usable, fresh water is a scarce resource. I also really wanted there to be a hands on activity to go along with this as well. So this is what I've found:

Boynton Canyon

I was reading lessons in a book called Project Wet. Project Wet is an organization that creates action-oriented lessons which helps students learn about all aspects of water. There are lessons on Ecology, water rights, water conservation, watersheds, and the list goes on. One in particular caught my eye called "Just a Drop". In this lesson, you start with a large bucket of water-- this water will represent all of the water in the world. Next you take a small graduated cylinder and remove a percentage of the water. This water then represents all of the fresh water in the world. However, just because water is fresh does not mean it is accessible or usable by humans. Finally, you remove more and more water from all of the fresh water that represents: water trapped in ice (glaciers, ice bergs), contaminated water, and water that is trapped in the ground, animals, and plants. When done, we are left with an incredibly small amount of usable, potable water.

I feel that this lesson will really illustrate to the kids how little water we have available to us. But you might be thinking "well that's nice, but that will take about 2 minutes." Don't worry, there's more.

Next, I want to talk to the kids about the Federalist structure of water conservation. The smallest branch would be the individual. These kids have probably already heard that they should take shorter showers or turn off the faucet, so I don't want this whole section to focus on person conservation (although I will definitely still cover this). I also want to move farther away to talk about what they can do as a group of students, what they can do as a school, what we can do as a community, state, and even nation.

I feel like the best way to teach this to students is to have an interactive discussion with them. While it will not be a Socratic discussion, I would like to hear students' input, or their own ideas on how they can increase water conservation. To show how the city works to conserve water, I will talk about how our city uses reclaimed water, and the students should recognize the facility because it is right next to Picture Canyon (where they visited in a field trip). At the end of the discussion I will hand out a worksheet with a table on it. I will then ask the students to take note of each time they use water and approximate the amount of time they do it for. I will ask them to do it for just one day, but I hope that this will make the students more conscientious of their water use (and even give them a chance to implement the practices they learned). 

Some very scary wildlife

Now that I have determined what I want the students to learn, creating my questionnaire will be much easier. This week I will be finishing it up!

FYI: The Salt River is just South of Show Low and runs right through the Apache Reservation. It is a tributary to Lake Roosevelt (East of Phoenix).

Week Five and Six

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Here's what I've been up to the past couple of weeks.

Week Five: The Last Week for Learning

This is my last week to focus on learning the different teaching techniques and styles of Willow Bend. Cassandra went to visit her home/family in New Zealand, so I followed Val around my old elementary school. Marshall School is a Magnet school, so they like to get students involved in hands-on learning. That's why we were there!

We taught 3rd graders about the phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle". I learned a few new tips as well from this lesson. Order matters in the phrase. First, you should look to reduce what you consume. Next, you should look to reuse what you have consumed. Finally, if you cannot reduce or reuse, you should recycle. Next, we taught the kids about what material you can recycle. Keep in mind, anything paper cup with a waxy substance inside (coffee cups, orange juice containers, excreta) are not recyclable.

We talked to the kids about the landfills, and how it is important to have a clay layer at the bottom of the fill (so that hazardous chemicals don't leak through to the soil or groundwater). I learned that our local landfill here in Flagstaff does not have that clay layer.

  
We also taught 2nd graders about the way seeds move. We divided seed movement into different categories such as "exploders" or "fliers". It was fun to work with such a young class.


This is my last week to watch other teachers and how they educate their students. From here on out, I will be developing my survey and my lesson for the sixth grade Alpine group. While observing and helping the Willow Bend educators has been really enjoyable, I'm looking forward to actually implementing what I have learned into a lesson. I hope that I don't just load the students up with facts; I hope I can create change in their habits that helps the environment.

Week Six: Determining Lesson Topics

I'm going to develop a pre-test and post-test to administer to the Alpine kids both a week before and after my presentation. But before I can create the test, I need to determine what I actually want to teach the students and how to accomplish this. 

Cassandra told me to list the things I want the kids to learn in order of importance. What is most the most fundamental, necessary thing you need them to know? 

I feel what is most important is the students' view of water. I want them to understand that fresh, potable water is a scarce resource in short supply. From there, I will teach them how they can conserve water individually, and transition to how they can make a difference as a group. How can you make a difference in your classroom? School? Community? I hope to incorporate local issues and hands-on activities as well.

From here on out, I'll be working on my surveys and presentations.

Thanks for reading! Happy Spring Break everyone!

Week Four: Learning How to Teach Locally

Hello all!

I was able to watch different teaching styles this week, as I shadowed both Forest Ranger Steven and Cassandra in the 6th grade Alpine Leadership Academy. They were going over different material, but it was interesting to observe the similarities and differences in their teaching styles. Most importantly, I watched them both focus on local places and issues around Flagstaff. I felt that the students could make connections to these places more easily because (1) students had visited them (2) the issues taught had real-life implications for these places--and therefore the students as well.

For example, in the past, students have taken field trips to Deadman's Wash in Wupatki National Monument. Deadman's Wash is a very interesting place; I've did conservation work there when I worked for Arizona Conservation Corps. We partnered with NAU to plant native species in the wash, and we also removed the Tamarisk that had taken over the area. 

Satellite View of Deadman's Wash
  The red outline is the area where
  Tamarisk has been removed. The kid's
calculated the number of native species here.

Number of Plants in Individual Squares

             

Alpine students had the opportunity to travel there and test the salinity levels in the soil there (tamarisk create very high salinity levels in the soil which makes life difficult for the native species). Ranger Steven had created a lesson asking students an important question: How do we know that our conservation efforts (planting native species) actually work? 

Well, to determine this, we need to figure out if the plants are actually surviving, and if so, is the number that do significant. Scientists could go into the field and count the plants, but this is both  tedious and expensive. Instead, they use a satellite photograph of the area and create a grid. Next, they count the number in each grid to take a random sample of the area. Then they take the average number of plants per each 100 square foot square and calculate the amount of plants in the large area.

Deadman's Wash (The green is Tamarisk)

The lesson was essentially a math lesson; however, I felt it was important because it showed the 6th graders real-world applications of their algebra skills. Students were also engaged because they had visited this place.

The San Francisco Peaks from Deadman's Wash

Cassandra worked with another class to prepare them for a field trip to Picture Canyon we will be taking later in March. Students learned the differences between pictographs and petroglyphs, and learned about the social issues surrounding Picture Canyon.

Picture Canyon used to be a literal dump. Trash, mattresses, and old vehicles littered the area, until a group of individuals decided to clean it all up. A crane was used to remove chunks of concrete and the vehicles. Finally in April of 2008, Picture Canyon was dedicated as a National Historic Site and became protected under Federal Law. If you ever want a cool place to hike, consider Picture Canyon. There are over 150 petroglyphs, pottery sherds, a few pit houses, and a small waterfall. 

This month, my outside advisor Cassandra will be traveling to her home in New Zealand. So, I will be developing my survey and classroom presentation over the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to actually delving into the centerpiece of my project.

Josh's AZCC Crew

Here's a picture of my AZCC crew in 2013. It was only a million degrees at Deadman's Wash in July.

Week Three: Learning about the Target Audience

Hope everyone's week has been great!

This week I read Beyond Ecophobia by David Sobel. This book focuses on the do's and dont's of environmental education at different stages in students' lives. 

Interestingly enough, he feels that we bombard young students (before 5th or 6th grade) with environmental issues such as deforestation in the Amazon, or pollution in the oceans. However, students do not feel a close connection with these issues; they are simply too abstract and complicated for younger students to understand. Therefore, the lessons we teach these students do not create a deep impact on the students' behaviors or attitudes (and many times 
students come to simplified conclusions).

It's funny to read this and think back to my 1st grade year when I learned about deforestation in the Amazon. I learned about all the different plants and animals (panthers are the coolest), but I never really felt a drive to do anything about it. I learned that people who cut down trees are bad, and that's really it. 

In reality, the issue is much more complicated. We have native people who need to utilize the deforested land to raise cattle. Other populations are booming, and they need places to live. Around the world there is a high demand for paper and lumber. Solving the deforestation issue means we must solve each of these issues first, and explaining this accurately to younger kids would be too advanced for them. 

Sobel argues that we first need to create a bond between students and their local environments. We need to allow students to discover the importance of the outdoors on their own. Let the kids play, wander, meander, and most importantly, do not rush them. First, they should experience the joys of the outdoors, and then develop a bond on their own.

Later on, around 5th and 6th grade, we can then introduce students to social activism in the environment. However, we still should not focus on the big tragedies, but on something far more local. Then, we can expect to see more caring and active students.

Picture Canyon

The Project

I was able to meet with Mrs. Tapia's third grade class again to finish our habitat projects. I also had the opportunity to meet two 6th grade classes at the Alpine Leadership Academy within Mount Elden Middle School, which focuses on experiential learning through the outdoors. It's amazing to see the difference in the two age groups. While the first 6th grade class was a little wild (it was right after lunch), you could tell how much young students develop intellectually in a few short years. I'm looking forward to developing a presentation for them, and I hope to integrate some of Sobel's points in my lesson. The students will have the opportunity to travel to Picture Canyon later this year and will learn about the struggles the canyon faced.

Week Two: Willow Bend and Education

Hello water lovers!

I've had the opportunity to work with Willow Bend for my project. For those of you who don't know, Willow Bend is a non-profit organization that provides educational services aimed at building environmental awareness and responsible stewardship of our natural and cultural resources. In other words, they send educators to different schools to teach our youth about anything from ecology to volcanoes to water conservation.

Francis Short Pond

Now, these are not boring, lecture-styled presentations. Students are given the opportunity to have many different hands-on experiences. Last week, I was able to visit Mrs. Tapia's third grade class at Knoles Elementary with my outside advisor, Cassandra.

Our topic of the day was the Rio de Flag, a wash (or occasionally a stream) that runs through Flagstaff. At the beginning of the class, none of the students knew what the Rio was, much less why it was important. Instead of simply telling them what the Rio was, we showed them. We helped them create a map of the area around Flagstaff, and the location of the Rio in our local community. As we talked about the Duck Pond or how the Rio cut through downtown, many students began to exclaim, "I've been there!" or "I know what that is!".

Next, we went outside. We hiked along the urban trail until we arrived at (surprise!) the Rio de Flag. When we left the students' normal environment (the classroom), they became more engaged and interested. They were also given a hands-on opportunity to understand the importance of the Rio. Instead of us telling the students, "The Rio is important because it is a habitat for animals," they were able to watch as squirrels ate pinecones, and they followed deer tracks through the snow.

Once we were back in class, we recapped both what the Rio was, and why it was important. Then we left the third grade class.

Overall, I felt that new speakers (Cassandra and I) and a new learning environment really spurred the kids' interests. While we were outside, the students formed a concrete connection with the Rio. They conceptualized what it was, where it was, and its importance to animals. I only held one doubt: would  the information stick with them?



This week I was able to go back with Cassandra to Mrs. Tapia's third grade class to teach students about our local Francis Short Pond, more commonly known as the Duck Pond. We had the students begin creating a pond habitat project, where they added things like reeds and rocks. As students cut paper and pine needles, I walked around and asked them questions about last week's lesson. They recited the information back to me with ease (with a few additional stories).

Pond Habitat Project (in the making)

Since the kids' had a personal experience with the Rio, I feel that they were more likely to retain the information we gave them. From my experience with Willow Bend so far, I have learned that environmental education is not something you can simply teach. For information to stick with students, you must also provide an opportunity for personal experience.

The research project:

For my final project, I hope to create my own classroom presentation for late elementary and early middle school students on water conservation. I will need to work on narrowing down my topic, because unfortunately, I can't teach everything to these students in such a short amount of time. My time restraints for this project has probably been the largest challenge so far. We all have such high hopes and vast goals; however, we are only given so much time. 

I've determined that I want students to learn three things from my presentation: (1) Water is a scarce natural resource; (2) what water conservation actually is; and (3) actions—both collective and individual— that the students can take themselves to conserve water. 

While this may seem simple on paper, in practice, it is more complicated.  I want them to be able to apply this knowledge, and also, I want to develop a drive (or incentive) in each student to conserve water. To do this, I need to create an emotional tie to water conservation. 

Therefore, my goal for next week is to start developing activities that will both teach students about water conservation and provide them with a memorable, positive experience. 



Fun Fact of the Day: A person can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water. 

I hope you all are taking shorter showers and having a great time! Just wanted to remind everyone of the importance of fresh, potable water. Have a great long weekend!

Week One: Why is water conservation important?

For the first week of my project, I wanted to focus my studies on why water conservation is important both today and for our future.

Here's what I found.

Today, California faces a water crisis, and other states in the Southwest are not immune. Arizona’s population has quadrupled since 1970, and we’re continuing to grow. Not only do we have a growing population, but our supply of freshwater is also decreasing. Currently, the Southwest is experiencing a decreasing amount of precipitation, and predictions do not indicate that these numbers will rise anytime soon. The only way we can expect to sustain this ever-growing population is to change our practices with water.

According to the journal Science Advances, the chances of a “mega-drought” hitting the Midwest and Southwest by 2100 are 80%, based on our current greenhouse emission trajectory (Howard, 2015). The rise in temperature due to greenhouse gases will cause higher levels of evaporation and limit the precipitation in the already arid regions of the Southwest. Arizona and the Colorado River Basin are also projected to have smaller amounts of rainfall (Howard, 2015). Findings in this research could have a profound impact on our state and other states in the Southwest. 

Since the Southwest is already arid, any decreases in our precipitation will have serious consequences for our environment and for our supply of water. According to a study conducted by researchers at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, precipitation (in the Southwest) is projected to drop by 5% by the century’s end, and a 10% decline could be in store for the southern half of Arizona (Lenart, 2008). Such a decrease could have a more serious impact than the numbers suggest. Considering both an increased evaporation in summer and declining precipitation in winter and summer, models project an average moisture loss amounting to about a third of an inch of rainfall per month across the region (Lenart, 2008).

The question is: how do we sustain our growing population with a decreasing amount of rainfall?

While we cannot control the amount of rain and snowfall in the region, we can reduce our consumption of water. Some cities are trying to incentivize citizens into developing better water conservation habits. Flagstaff currently has water policies in place for individual homes and small businesses. There is an established watering schedule which limits both the day and time of day for watering. The City of Flagstaff has also created a fund for a rebate program. In this program, anyone who provides a receipt for the purchase of High Efficiency Toilets, Turf Removal, and Rainwater Harvesting will receive a rebate from the city (however, other cities in Arizona do not have these policies or programs in place).

To create policies that reduce our water conservation rates, we need to have educated and involved voters. The goal of my project will be to educate our youth about water conservation (and the effects of using too much water), and thus, instill an incentive for change in young students. Hopefully in the future, these students will be more open to water restrictions in the arid Southwest.