Environmental Science
Metro's Environamental Science classes traveled to McCloud Run, Iowa's only urban trout stream, to conduct water quality studies as part of the IOWATER program, Iowa's Volunteer Water Monitoring Program. Students learned why and how to conduct the different tests in the classroom and then used their new found knowledge to complete their work in the field. All three sections of Environmental Science traveled to the stream during a three day period.
The data collected from the students tests was then uploaded to the states Water Quality Atlas, an online database that stores the states water quality data. The data is used by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as well as local scientists, activists, and students to study the states water quality. Metro students have used other volunteers data to compare their sites data to other sites and also to study water quality of other areas. The Department of Natural Resources has conducted several large scale water quality studies as a result of volunteers findings.
Students tested the streams Dissolved Oxyen level, Nitrate levels, Phosphate levels, pH levels, Chloride levels, Clarity, and temperature. They also got to enjoy the morning outside and take in some of the urban beauty of the stream and the wildlife surounding it.
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