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Become a citizen scientist - monitor changes in the environment

Become a citizen scientist - monitor changes in the environment

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About This Lesson

Resource: What's in the water?

Description

Media (7 min video): All freshwater lakes and rivers eventually drain into an ocean ... and the St. Lawrence River drains over a quarter of all the freshwater on the planet! The mix of fresh and saltwater habitats in this river supports a huge diversity of fish species! Join Lexy and experts from the River Institute to learn why and how scientists are monitoring water quality in the St. Lawrence and looking at how factors like water clarity, temperature, and conductivity create different environments for the species that live there. Along the way, we'll find out how nutrient pollution can affect aquatic ecosystems, and what the yellow perch can tell us about the health of the river.

  • See the media: Ocean School makes media/activity combinations. Each piece of media is linked to an activity. You can access this video by visiting the Ocean School website or by visiting the direct link here. If you like this media, you can see all of the available resources in the Ocean School Resource Catalogue. Everything in Ocean School is provided free to the public.

Activity (2 hrs): Citizen science! Students are challenged to monitor environmental changes in their community over time. First they interview a long-term resident about changes they have noticed. Then they select a location and make observations about the environment and water quality using a field journal.

  • Want another format? We offer a Google Slides version of the activity, a Microsoft Powerpoint version of the activity, and a PDF version of the activity on the Ocean School website.

About Ocean School

This is a free educational resource from the Canadian Government about the ocean, through the Ocean Frontier Institute at Dalhousie University and the National Film Board of Canada. Ocean School provides media-rich, ocean-based resources in multiple subjects for students in grades 5–12. Created by educators, scientists and storytellers, these interactive learning materials help students understand our influence on the ocean and the ocean’s influence on us. Ocean School is ad-free and requires no login for teacher or student.

Available in French

Check out the Resources tab for the French activity sheets and media. Or check out the French Ocean School page.

Please note: Ocean School activities are not stand-alone lessons (they do not cover all aspects of one topic or subject) but instead supplement learning through dynamic and engaging experiences.

About the creative commons license:

  • This Ocean School activity is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.
  • This Ocean School piece of media is not creative commons. 

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