Classroom Activities
Since I serve more than one site as a pull-out academic support service, I see my students once or twice a week, unlike my core area counterparts who see their students daily or every other day for full class periods. This coming school year will be different for everyone, in that our school district has just announced that we will begin the year virtually, with a re-evaluation of that decision every 9 weeks, due to COVID-19. These conditions necessitate this unit be very flexible in its implementation. Several portions may have to be taught virtually with students completing their background research and experiments individually. Fortunately, chunking the unit according to where it is in the iterative Engineering Design Process works with this kind of schedule uncertainty.
Tulsa gets the most predictable rain in late Spring, so regardless of in-person vs. virtual learning, this unit will begin in March and is ideally complete by April 20th, to coincide with Earth Day. This time frame also means that if students had the opportunity to have learned material while physically in school, they would then have Spring Break to extend their learning opportunities at home and perform self-guided experiments. Additionally, I would like to see my students submit their final stormwater mitigation product to a Science Fair (our local-area Science Fairs are in the Spring) or a competition of some kind so that they can have recognition for their creativity and hard work.
Ask
Students must first determine where “the beginning” of the Engineering Design Process is before they can begin. For our purpose, to underscore the iterative nature of the Process, students will start this unit at the (physical) end by viewing a picture of the Arkansas River. We will have a discussion about the river, with a variety of specific prompts from NGSS’s middle school framework to facilitate conversation. These prompts will range from questions focusing on EPA water quality levels, such as what students would want to know before deciding whether to swim or fish in it, to what is in the water, such as speculating on where various water contaminants originated. The goal of this discussion is that students are able to identify specific problems surrounding stormwater they want to address, which are ideally kept communally on a dedicated chart in the classroom. In the event of online learning, public responses in a class forum would serve this purpose.
Research
Once they are asking questions, students need to obtain an appropriate background in the topic of stormwater runoff so that they can have a clearer picture of what they are going to be asked to design. This requires that students first understand what Depth & Complexity calls “Language”—that is, students need to know terms and concepts appropriate to the discipline. Commonly used terms, such as watershed, wetlands, stormwater runoff, urbanization, nonpoint source pollution, permeability, riparian buffer, mitigation, “swimmable and fishable,” as well as the specific types of pollutants nitrate, coliforms, turbidity, and sheen will be explicitly taught so that a common background can be assumed. In addition to a word wall, labeling and annotating a drawing of the school grounds or a neighborhood with the path of stormwater picking up various pollutants on its route will be helpful to retain this knowledge (Figure 5.) This can also be done using a digital annotation tool on top of a picture. This step in the process is another opportunity for students to foresee points at which they can potentially intervene.
Figure 5: A neighborhood drawing that students could annotate with specific pollutants they anticipate.44
Students need to comprehend how water flows through their local watershed system. To ensure this, they will complete one or more of a variety of brief activities/experiments demonstrating how water moves, how water flows over permeable and impermeable surfaces, and/or the ability of various surfaces to filter water. Each of these activities/experiments will be as low-stakes, safe, and accessible as possible so that if students need to complete these independently due to virtual or extension learning, they are more likely able to.
Videos with explanations of the function of stormwater treatment plants, street sweepers, etc. will be made available to students as well, so that whether we are meeting in-person or virtually, they will have additional resources to help them grasp various concepts.
It is important that students appreciate the current state of their local watershed in order to develop a mitigating solution for it. Therefore they will use local topographic and road maps to trace the path of stormwater from the school’s roof to its discharge point in either Bird Creek or the Arkansas River. Samples of stormwater from various locations will be taken and analyzed for specific pollutants, including nitrates, fecal coliforms, turbidity, and sheen. These particular pollutants were selected because of their relative ease to test, and because of their abundance in Tulsa’s and Oklahoma’s waterways, which students will learn.45 Ideally these activities/experiments are all completed in-person during a walking field trip with samples coming from downspouts, mud puddles, the parking lot, storm drains, and Bird Creek and the Arkansas River. It is possible that we will be meeting virtually; packets of test strips can be made available for pickup at the school so that students can independently obtain and analyze samples and record their results in a digital forum.
To make this unit as inquiry-focused as possible, the more in-depth background information regarding the history of EPA regulations and the Clean Water Act, the current state of Oklahoma’s watershed system, and various contributing factors to nonpoint source pollution will be kept aside for students (likely in labeled physical folders for in-person learning and/or in a digital binder for virtual learning or learning extensions) who seek answers to questions they generate as they learn about stormwater runoff.
Ideate
The next step in the Engineering Design Process is to brainstorm ways of solving problems associated with stormwater runoff contamination. Again, this is an iterative process, so it is natural and expected that students cycle back through the Ask and Research steps as they explore solutions. It is important that students understand what Depth & Complexity refers to as Rules as they generate ideas—that is, students will need to clearly relate potential solutions to the specific questions they’re asking and the problems they’re hoping to ameliorate. This requires students to identify which measurements and data systems, etc. will be used to determine if their solution meets the expected level of effectiveness. The Ideate step can be done either in-person or virtually, but it is important that there is an element of collaboration and refinement during this process so that students are able to create the best possible solution they can.
It is also during the Research and Ideate steps that students differentiate any potential solution they propose to existing interventions. Students will read articles, look at photographs and diagrams, and watch videos that highlight the impacts of construction sites, building roofs, and choices that homeowners make, such as installing gutters and french drains, what plants and landscaping to incorporate, and determining how pervious their concrete should be. The EPA has a Windows-based Stormwater Management Model computer program that can be downloaded and used to help students see how stormwater runoff quantity and quality varies with each of these intervention methods. The modeling program can account for a variety of pollutant loads, types and amounts of hydrologic processes, and types of stormwater control strategies and practices, so it would be a great tool for students to use, whether they are in class or at home.46
Create
After students have ideas on how to mitigate the negative impacts of stormwater runoff, they will physically create their solutions. This step can take many different forms and will likely need to occur (at least partially) outside of class regardless of in-person or virtual meetings. The materials and tools required will vary greatly, depending on exactly what students propose to build, and it students will need to build a model or prototype before executing their final plan. There will be various measuring tools, found items, and standard craft and office items available for students to use, and there is also potential for local organizations to contribute materials or money to help students construct their design, as well. This step is purposefully left ambiguous, since the goal is to have students discover a problem and create an innovative solution. It would be counterproductive to dictate the type of solution that GT students could undertake, and it would stifle their potential to limit the type of solution they decide is best. For a more formal learning situation, such as a high school Environmental Science class, it may be appropriate to give students some parameters, such as creating a solution that would benefit their school building.
Test
It may not be possible for students to test their design at its intended point of insertion if we are fully participating in virtual school options, but every effort will be made for students to implement their design to see how well it meets their stated objectives. This may require field trips of varying lengths and/or collaboration with local regulatory agencies or the school district, depending on the solution proposed. Regardless of where or how students test their product, they will be asked to evaluate its effectiveness based on the parameters they previously set for their work. Students will be frequently reminded of their goal of mitigating the impacts of stormwater runoff contamination so that they stay on task.
Improve
Students need to go through the DCI and SEP steps of testing and modifying their possible solutions and analyzing and interpreting data they collect in order to arrive at the best possible solution. It is between this step and circling back to the Ask step that students will be presented with additional Depth & Complexity steps to ensure deep thinking and reflection. Specifically, students will be asked to speculate what would happen if one or more of their observed problems changes, or if variables such as the season or amount of rainfall could affect the outcome. They will also be asked to predict how effective their solution will be over time, and what modifications they will need to make to ensure its longevity. The iterative nature of the Engineering Design Process will again be emphasized so that students keep the idea of revisiting problems to improve solutions at the forefront of their evaluations.
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