Summer School on the North Fork, 2005

Outdoors Stream Days Summer School Stream Day 2005

Stream Day on the North Fork River
West Plains Elementary Summer School

On June 22, a Stream Day was held on the banks of the North Fork River at Hammond Mill. Fifty-five fourth and fifth graders and their sponsors attended four sessions. Three field professionals from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) facilitated: Mary Palmer led a session which concentrated on macroinvertebrate sampling and the food chain, Melanie Carden-Jessen led a session on visual surveying and map reading, and Wendy Ziegler led a session on nature journaling. Adam Coulter from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) led a session on watersheds and rivers using a stream table. Missouri Master Naturalist volunteer Dan Leary assisted during the macroinvertebrate sessions.

Stream Table Students "plant trees" to moderate the effects of flooding and erosion on streambanks. More info on stream table	Nature Journaling
The Stream Table activity included graphics to enhance learning about the stream features of the North Fork River. Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Map reading session Students are studying the West Plains Watersheds map to find where their school is located.	Macroinvertebrate Sampling Kicking gravel into a net to collect macroinvertebrates to test the water quality of the stream. More info on macroinvertebrates
Students took a pretest prior to Stream Day with the following results: Average Score: 28% (1.4 correct answers out of 5) Scores Range: 0 to 4 Median Score: 20% (1 correct answer out of 5) Most students were able to answer one question correctly. Only 8% could describe a watershed. 0% could name the watershed that their school was in. 36% knew what a macroinvertebrate was, 53% could identify an example of point source pollution, and 42% knew that a food chain involved both plants and animals. Students took a post test on June 23 with the following results: Average Score: 85% (4.3 correct answers out of 5) Scores Range: 3 to 5 Median Score: 80% (4 correct out of 5) Most students were able to answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly. Sixty-seven percent could describe a watershed. 92% could name the watershed their school was in, 94% knew what a macro invertebrate was, 84% could identify an example of point source pollution, and 90% knew that a food chain involved both plants and animals.
Teachers and sponsors had nothing but praises about the Stream Day and students asked if we could go again before the end of summer school!

The development of content for Stream Days is funded through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, has provided partial funding for this project under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.

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