Indian Run

Stroud Preserve

Penn Wood Gifted Program

Aquatic Investigations

photo by Lynneann Washlick

         The Aquatic Investigations course provides students with unique experiences geared toward promoting analysis, evaluation, data collection, and environmental responsibility.  This fall, students are involved with a comparative study of two streams which drain into the East Branch of the Brandywine.  Indian Run is a first order stream which exhibits wonderful water quality, supporting a wide rage of organisms, as well as wild trout.  Taylor Run, located on the Stroud Preserve, is a small stream which carries treated effluent from West Chester back to the East Branch of the Brandywine.  On October 10, 2006 students from Penn Wood and Mary C. Howse collected data which will be entered into the data base for the World Water Monitoring Day. It was great to be working on a common research project with our friends in other schools!

      Click on the above pages to see photographs of our studies at Indian Run and images from the 2005 trip to Stroud Preserve . Our students will be visiting the  Stroud Preserve on October 24, 2006 to learn more about land use issues that impact the quality of our streams. The planting of trees along Taylor Run is one of the largest projects of its type in Pennsylvania. Scientists from the Stroud Research Center are directing this effort.  We are learning more than ever about the powerful, positive impact that trees play in helping to filter out excessive nutrients, stabilize banks, provide food for macro invertebrates, as well as guarding against over heating in the summer.    Our focus is to provide students with a strong understanding of factors which influence the health of streams. Students are involved with taking pH, dissolved oxygen, hardness,  and several other samples. Macro-invertebrates collected aid students in determining water quality.

Students build model watersheds to gain a better insight into the factors which influence the flow of the stream.

Our student scientists evaluate overall stream conditions in our classroom lab. Our students have gained a broad sense for many of the indicator which impact stream health.  In the above activity, students evaluate water quality from two different streams.  Having a stream on our Penn Wood campus adds greatly to our learning experience.

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