Introduction

Convenience samples were taken due to the proximity of the creek behind the high school. There is also construction going on, so the students wanted to figure out if that had any adverse effects on the water system (although they did not have any baseline data).

Participants

2 classes consisting of Grade 7 and 8 french immersion art students took the samples. They were lead by Debra Reeves and Jerold Brito (SFU) and Rebekah Grayston (École Moody Middle School of the Arts).

Temperature & Conditions

Overcast with mean water temp of 7.7 degrees celcius and daily range of 5 - 13 degrees Celsius. Now wind and rain for the day.

Test Location

Water samples were taken in the middle of the 0.8-1m wide creek to a depth of ~5-10cm at ~10am & ~1pm. The creek was surrounded by a forest; however, construction (new building erection) was occurring a few hundred metres away. We had 2 separate classes go out and took the mean results. There were discrepancies between TDS and alkalinity; however, the mean value was used to determine the Q-value.

Results & Discussion

Mean test results suggest that the water quality was "good" with a mean Q-value of 89. The students hypothesized that 1). the water quality would be pristine and 2). the water quality would be adversely affected by the neighbouring construction. The class discussed that since we were only taking one sample per group (as opposed to multiple samples), and that the students were new to this, we could have 1). errors due to single sampling and 2). user errors due to being new at the procedures.

Testimonial

The students were art students, so getting them out to do field work was exciting for them and made some deep connections.