Aquatic science students give feedback to Texas Aquatic Science author at student water event.
About 900 aquatic science students and others interested in water converged at Confluence 2016, San Antonio Water System’s (SAWS) annual water event for high school students. Texas Aquatic Science was featured at a booth that also included Texas Stream Team, Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Texas A&M San Antonio,, and A&M San Antonio’s Institute for Water Resources Science and Technology.
Aquatic science students and their teachers had an opportunity to meet Texas Aquatic Science textbook author, Dr. Rudy Rosen. Feedback from aquatic science students indicated they enjoyed using the text and curriculum for studies about water and aquatic science.
The Confluence student conference is designed both to explore the water issues facing San Antonio and to devise ways students can make a difference. Each year, nearly 1,000 area high school students participate in the event. Focus on current water issues sets the SWAS conference apart.
San Antonio’s News Radio 1200 WOAI reported on the conference posting this exciting report:
It is what is called the Confluence Summit, and Lilliana Gonzalez of SAWS says the students are getting an education into how water gets to their homes, the scarcity of the supply, and what can be done to deal with that scarcity.
“Really, we’re talking about the multiple water resources available, and tapping into these students ideas on tapping into these water resources,” she said.
In addition to learning about water, Gonzalez says the students are also being encouraged to join the conversation about how to deal with the region’s scarce water supplies.
“We have students who are part of ‘impact teams,’ who work all year long on a project, and they are providing their ideas as well,” she said.
Among the activities include the ‘Yuck Factor’ theater, water trivia, and TV-style game shows to test water knowledge.
Gonzalez says these students have a vested interest in making sure water is available when they are adults.
“It is making them future water stewards,” she said. “This helps them realize how many facets there are to working with the resource.”
The students are especially interested in SAWS huge desalination plant which is being built south of San Antonio. It is bring an entirely new technology to play in the search for new supplies of water.
Texas Aquatic Science includes the Texas Aquatic Science curriculum textbook, teacher guide and activities, aquatic science videos, on-line lessons, and curriculum website.
Texas Aquatic Science is a comprehensive curriculum for water and aquatic science studies for middle and high school use, plus application at the university level for non science majors. The curriculum consists of a textbook in hard copy and fully on line, a massive teachers resource and activity guide that includes assessments, specially produced aquatic science video, and 220 online video lessons all fully aligned with Texas teaching standards. It’s become the top-ranked curriculum and source for information on aquatic science on the internet today.
Aquatic science students and adult learners may navigate the online student portal. For teachers, the Teachers Guide is loaded with science investigations, games, models, cooperative learning activities, Internet projects, readings from the student guides, short aquatic science video, science journals, and field based assessments of water quality and environmental conditions in a variety of field trips. Most time is spent doing hands on activities from the Teacher Guide, over 700 pages of TEKS aligned, hands-on activities designed to engage all learners and all learner types. Lessons in each chapter begin with an activity to allow the teacher to assess what students know about the concepts to be studied. Lessons embed higher order thinking skills, provide depth and complexity of learning, and provide a wide variety of hands-on activities that engage students in many contexts and methods. Each lesson includes an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned by synthesizing the information and demonstrating their learning by developing creative products or performances.