Did you know Stroud Water Research Center’s education team curates and creates virtual learning resources that transport the stream to the screen for online learners around the world? A new addition helps anyone anywhere to simulate multiple stream studies and compare results — all from the other side of a screen!
Readers may be familiar with the international Leaf Pack Network®, in which citizen science monitors of all ages conduct leaf pack projects to investigate stream health. Monitors create and submerge leaf packs, or dry leaves in a mesh bag, to mimic the natural packs formed by fallen leaves as they float downstream. Within a few weeks, monitors can collect their packs and identify important water quality indicators like “stream bugs,” or aquatic macroinvertebrates, that moved into the new neighborhood of leaves.
When you can’t access a stream to conduct a leaf pack project, you can virtually study water chemistry, stream habitats, and aquatic macroinvertebrates on the NEW Leaf Pack Network Simulation! Explore the web-based field notebook and tutorial today. A lesson plan and printable student worksheet are coming soon.
The Leaf Pack Network Simulation was created in partnership with software developers at Concord Consortium as part of the NSF-funded WATERS curriculum (Watershed Advocacy using Technology and Environmental Research for Sustainability). Learn how the collaboration is being used in a national curriculum.
