Penn Wood Gifted Program

Aquatic Investigations

Indian Run

    Indian Run is located in northern Chester County on the border of Springton Manor Farm County Park.  This jewel of a stream flows into the East Branch of the Brandywine River. The stream provides students with a unique opportunity to study an aquatic system of exceptional quality.  Wild trout, combined with an abundance of class one organisms, provide students with the opportunity to witness a stream which struggles to maintain the quality of life that was once more common of Chester County streams.  Poor land use practices over the years has eliminated the quality of water exhibited by Indian Run from other featured streams.  It is a stream that can be the teacher for all of us in our attempt to be better stewards of our environment.

    We hope to establish projects on Indian Run which will contribute to preservation, education, and appreciation of this special resource.  This fall, students from five of the West Chester Area School District elementary schools conducted research on Indian Run.  Our students were able to apply their understanding of watershed issues and knowledge of aquatic indicators to their evaluation of this stream.  We registered this site with the World Monitoring Day web site.  Our students will have the opportunity to expand this investigation with their visit to the Stroud Preserve.

            Students examine aquatic organisms found in Indian Run.

 Testing water quality issues in our lab helps to give students a chance to apply new skills to a real life application.

Students eat lunch along the bank of Indian Run.

    Sharing your discoveries with others is half the fun!

  

 

Students working together conduct a chemical test to find out the amount of dissolved minerals in the water.

Back to Aquatic Investigations