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ArtStream: A Creative Approach to Stream Habitats and Nonpoint Source Pollution
The Bryant Watershed Project is an educational effort with a holistic perspective and high tech approach to protecting and preserving our natural resources. The mission is to explore the use of available technology to bring watershed-based curriculum into local classrooms. Over the six year life of the project, a multifaceted website has been built which focuses on one small watershed in south central Missouri. The Bryant Watershed Atlas is loaded with information on landscape, wildlife, people, and culture of that watershed.
Project Description
Interactive graphics and locally relevant content will be used on the Bryant Watershed Atlas website to engage learners. A partnership with West Plains school district will be formed to build Atlases for watersheds in the Bryant Creek neighborhood. Students will be given the opportunity, through active inquiry based learning and creative endeavor, to actually produce content for their own Watershed Atlas. The topic will focus on stream and river habitats and the effects of nonpoint source pollution on the denizens of those habitats. ArtStream is of particular timeliness for West Plains students. This steadily growing city is located on the headwaters of the Spring River, which, like the Bryant, is a tributary of the White River. Construction and development of the area is impacting the water quality in the Spring River and its tributaries, with a small section down river from the waste treatment facility already listed on the 303d list of endangered streams. Heavy rains this springs have brought sedimentation problems from recent development near Galloway Creek to the attention of water quality testers. Galloway, a tributary of the Spring River, is the only natural stream left in the city limits.
Objectives
Students participating in ArtStream at West Plains Middle School will:
? research aquatic habitats and the effects of sedimentation and other forms
of nonpoint source pollution on aquatic animals;
? investigate conditions in local streams;
? develop text and art products about what they learn with the cooperation
of the art and language arts teachers;
? work with a professional graphic artist to enhance those products by
designing and building animations and interactive illustrations;
? have the resulting work published as part of the Watershed Atlas.
Products
1. Watershed based educational websites using animations and interactive illustrations based on the Bryant Watershed Atlas model.
2. Written project evaluations.
3. Press releases to local daily newspapers.
Project Sponsor
Bryant Watershed Project, Inc.
Cooperating Agencies
West Plains Middle School
Missouri Department of Conservation
Contact
Lois Reborne
4350 State Route 14
West Plains, MO 65775
417--257-1315
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