Week 2, June 13 2013, Pollutant Lists

Summer Session, Week 2
Thursday, June 13, 2013

Today, we had to switch our original plans around because of inclement weather. Instead of taking a walk and exploring the Panther Hollow watershed near the museum, we stayed inside and explored what pollutants exist in water, as well as their sources, specific impacts on water, if they're regulated, whether the regulations are for surface or drinking water, etc.

We first attempted to guess the answers by hypothesizing what sources each pollutant could come from as well as their effects on water quality by using any previous knowledge we had. Each of these educated guesses was assigned a color-coded sticker for confidence. Then, we began research online to confirm or refute each.

This was a chance to sharpen first our critical thinking skills, and then our Internet research skills.

The finished product was a poster-sized grid of information about each pollutant in water that we will be testing this summer. We then copied it into our field notebooks for future reference. It will come in handy later when we begin to form hypotheses about the water we will study.