Fourth-graders wade through watershed research at Learning Center Fair

Thursday, March 20, 2008

LA GRANDE, Ore. (EOU) — What exactly is a watershed? Fourth-graders from Central Elementary School hoped to discover the answer by the end of a morning spent at Eastern Oregon University.

Leslie Graham's class at Central participated in the first Learning Center Fair hosted by EOU on Friday, March 14.

A group of 26 future elementary school teachers created 13 different learning stations with activities to engage children in topics like land erosion, rain runoff, wildlife, natural filtration systems, water molecules - everything relating to the broad theme of watersheds.  

Photos by Laura Hancock
EOU student Jolynn Watson explains to fourth-graders
Hannah Roberts, left, and Tiffany Girrard, how surface
tension enables paper clips to float on water.

What started out as a term project for graduate students in EOU's Master's of Teacher Education program evolved into something much bigger, said Ralph Woodward, associate professor of education at EOU.

"You can feel the excitement!" Woodward said as he watched the last minute preparations taking place before the students from Central arrived Friday morning.

"The goal is to expand educational strategies available to teachers to help children learn more and in a different way. Everything is hands-on," Woodward said.

Teaming up in pairs, EOU students worked to develop and construct the learning stations. They were required to incorporate both science and art into their activities. Kate Garnhart-Bushakra, instructor of art at EOU, and Donna Rainboth, science methods instructor in the College of Education, helped guide the artistic elements, thematic choice and content.

The assignment was not originally intended to leave the classroom. Rainboth, who is actively involved in outreach projects with area schools, knew Graham's students at Central were going to be studying wetlands this spring.

"Let's invite a class and make it authentic," Rainboth suggested.

And the idea took off with Woodward's students at the helm.

"These students are teaching content and they're much happier to be working with the kids," Rainboth said. "They really rose to the occasion. I can look at them and see how good they feel about what they've done."

Members of EOU's education consortium on campus for the group's biannual meeting were also able to see the MTE students in action. Teachers and public school administrators from the region and EOU faculty and students, both graduate and undergraduate, make up the consortium, which serves as an advisory group for the College of Education.

Central Elementary School student Tanner Lee, center, times how
long it takes a cup of water to drain through different types of soil.
Rick Thew, left, and Jake Hughes were among the group of 26
graduate students in EOU's MTE program who organized the fair.

With the Learning Center Fair in full swing on the second floor of the Hoke Union Building, one group of children made traditional Japanese Gyotaku fish prints, while another tested the strength of water molecules.

"H20 is so strong, it can hold up a paper clip," EOU student Jolynn Watson explained to children at her station. "Let's see who can float the most paper clips!"

Watson and her partner, Story Miller, created the "H20 Olympics" learning center to illustrate surface tension and bonding molecules. The children discovered how soap breaks up the bonded molecules and acts as a propellant, pushing a small cardboard boat through water in a shallow pan.

Then the students competed to see who could float the most paper clips on the surface of the water without breaking the tension.

Other stations demonstrated how different types of plant matter and soil work as nature's filtration system.

Rick Thew and Jake Hughes wanted to show students how gravel, sand and clay absorb and distribute water very differently.

"We wanted to show them how they can recognize different types of soil in their own yard," Thew said.

The students were asked to predict how long they thought it would take a cup of water to drain through each type of soil. Stopwatch in hand, they tested their guesses and poured the water into three large plastic bottles containing equal amounts of gravel, sand and clay.

The water draining through the clay repeatedly came in last in the race.

Thew and Hughes also emphasized the practical applications related to well drilling and how aeration can help stop water from pooling in soil that is predominantly clay. 

On the other side of the room, students at Mike Herriman and Brian Heim's station were learning about the wildlife of eastern Oregon and how to identify their tracks. They also had the chance to make their own footprint to take home.

"We thought it would be a good idea to identify the animals in the area that they see everyday and also show them how animals can impact the water we drink," Herriman said. "It was a fun project and it's a two-way street because we're learning and they're learning."

The positive atmosphere permeating the fair was contagious among graduate students and elementary-schoolers alike. As the event drew to a close, Herriman headed to the front of the room to give high-fives to the students as they filed out the door.

"I learned that rain sticks are made of wood and cactus needles," fourth-grader D.J. Henderson said.  "And I got 16 paper clips to float!"

The "Capture, Store and Release" station was Hannah Roberts' favorite. She learned how landscapes absorb water differently depending on the type of foliage they support.

"I thought they all absorbed water the same way," Roberts said.

So what is a watershed? The students from Central learned to think of a leaf filling with water. When the leaf is full, the water empties and flows over the surface of the ground into a stream or another body of water. That’s a watershed.

 

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