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Niangua Water Festival
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Niangua Water Festival is designed to lead 600 fourth grade students into learning about nonpoint source water pollution through interactive, hands-on demonstrations. Students will be given the opportunity to learn such topics as clean water promotes plant and animal life diversity, indicator species are used to help determine the health of streams, nonpoint source water pollution can cause a threat to human health, and that water is a natural resource that people want to use for different purposes some of which can promote clean water and some uses that will allow water to become polluted.
The festival is designed to teach students problems associated with nonpoint source water pollution while at the same time students are having fun. The festival teaches students about water conservation, physical and chemical properties of water, what activities can pollute water, how water pollution looks and smells, and the difficulty involved in cleaning up polluted water. A brochure that was sent to teachers to promote the festival is enclosed with this grant application.
PRODUCTS AND OBJECTIVES
Presenters will direct their presentations to include students to use all of their senses - taste, touch, smell, hear, and see that nonpoint source water pollution not only effects those creatures who live beside the water, but also impacts the students themselves. The students will learn that everyone has a part in helping to prevent nonpoint source water pollution. Students will be given the opportunity to listen to a debate concerning the different uses of water. One which would promote clean water but produce no economical benefit to the community and one which would cause pollution bet economic benefits to the community. The school systems that are invited to attend are mainly small, rural schools that do not often have the opportunity to have the opportunity to have outside "professionals" come into the classroom. This will give those schools the chance to have many professionals in one place where they can teach the students that nonpoint source water pollution affects all of us. Teachers who agree to attend the festival will be given some pre-festival and post-festival material. this material will suggest activities that will promote further adoption of practices that will help prevent nonpoint source water pollution. (The post-festival material has been shown to have a strong effect on students adoption of preventing nonpoint source water pollution.) Two classes will be selected to take a quiz to see how well the students have retained the knowledge that they obtained at the water festival. The Niangua River Water Quality Project will provide the personnel to organize the festival.
PROJECT SPONSOR
Dallas Co. Extension
COOPERATING AGENCY
EPA/DNR
CONTACT
Dallas Co. Extension
P.O. Box 1070
Buffalo, MO 65622
Karen Ross 417-866-1630
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