A Middle School Watershed Education Program Utilizing GIS
by
Maile Rhulea Malanchuk and Stephen Castlebury Brown, Ph.D.
University of Texas at San Antonio
Center for Water Research
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Abstract

The Guadalupe River basin is counted among the thirteen major river basins that shape the geography of Texas. Despite the river's impact in the lives of the Guadalupe basin population, many middle-school children have a limited understanding of its workings, its location, and the modern pollutants that threaten its balance. Recognizing the critical need for education in this area, a program that promotes river awareness was created. ArcView 3.2 and ArcExplorer were used to develop the curriculum for: 1. Demonstrating the workings of the Guadalupe River Basin, 2. Illustrating the consequences of pollution, and 3. Stressing the importance of resource protection.

Project Background

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA), headquartered in the city of Seguin, Texas, has worked for many years to promote river awareness among the residents living within its basins. More recently, however, the GBRA has taken a dynamic approach to this responsibility by providing information to the local middle schools (grades 6-8). The GBRA formed the River of Life program to serve middle schools within the boundary of the Guadalupe River basin. The River of Life curriculum will be distributed, free of charge, in the fall of 2002 to 52 public middle schools represented by 31 school districts.

The GBRA called upon the expertise of a select group of enthusiastic educators and a curriculum consultant to oversee the creation of this program. The steering committee that was assembled in 1999 included educators representing each of the ten counties within GBRA's statuatory district. A curriculum was developed and its creators took special care to address the requirements of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), set forth by the state. In compliance with the 1996 law, the state of Texas requires GIS applications in the middle school classroom. Unfortunately, this requirement is often overlooked, due to the lack of experienced educators trained in GIS.

This detail did not escape the GBRA education committee, who now sought to incorporate GIS into their River of Life program. It was through a mutual colleague at the University of Texas at San Antonio, that I was contacted by curriculum consultant Cinde Thomas-Jimenez. I learned of GBRA's mission to educate the public by beginning at the middle school level, and agreed to Cindy's request for my experience in GIS.

After reviewing the draft of the proposed lesson plan, I was able to focus on the areas to be addressed. The GIS mapping activity involves particular data that covers local aquifers, precipitation, ecoregions, watersheds, topography, and floodplains. In addition, information such as dam construction, land use, transportation, and population centers serve as visual indicators of man's influence upon nature. A display of the shifts in population centers over the last fifty years illustrates this concept. The River of Life program includes a worksheet to accompany the activity. This worksheet, Putting it All Together, asks critical thinking questions that cover the GIS material. This activity offers students the opportunity to connect concepts in a visual context. By visualizing the areas of extreme elevation along the Guadalupe River basin boundary, students can understand how geography contributes to flooding.

Since the watershed education program would be distributed among numerous school districts within the Guadalupe River basin, I had to take technology into consideration. Many schools provide their students with older PCs. To overcome this detail, I was advised by Professor Steve Brown, director of the UTSA GIS laboratory, to consider working with ArcExplorer. ArcExplorer possesses the benefits of being freely available, and compatiblity with older-model PCs. This ultimately makes education utilizing GIS a possibility for virtually all schools, regardless of the financial or technological obstacles they may face. ArcExplorer thus seemed the best choice for the type of work that I would undertake.

I received data sets gathered by a student who had earlier made efforts to take on the tasks assigned. Attempting to continue this project, I used discretion to determine what features should be identified by students using the program. Simplification of attribute fields was necessary as I took my user group into consideration. Hydrologic unit codes (HUC), for example, would be of little importance to the task at hand. In addition, abbreviated attribute fields could be confusing to middle school students.

I obtained other GIS data from the Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNIRS), which provides reliable, up-to-date information for the state. Consulting the GBRA, I received data sets that would enable me to show topography, a necessary aspect to illustrate the manner in which river basins shape the geography of Texas.

The Future of This Program

The success of the River of Life project depends on the receptivity and enthusiasm of middle school educators. The River of Life curriculum is part of a sequenced curriculum beginning at the elementary school level. Judy Gardner, GBRA manager of communications and education, comments that "Eventually, we plan to complete a high school curriculum that will be the third, and final phase of GBRA's water education program." Responses from educators and students alike will provide the valuable feedback necessary for the continuance of effective education.

A future possibility for the GIS aspect of this program is to provide users with internet GIS. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority website could offer middle school participants continuing educational activities. Once produced, a CDRom becomes dated. Internet GIS, however, possesses the benefit of providing the public with up-to-date information.

GIS offers limitless opportunities for application in the classroom. Educators participating in the River of Life program will receive training in basic GIS application from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. In addition to the efforts on behalf of the GBRA to encourage river awareness in the classroom, the program promotes GIS awareness as educators discover its potential as a valuable tool.

Maile R. Malanchuk
University of Texas at San Antonio
Center for Water Research
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
6900 N. Loop 1604 W.
San Antonio, Texas 78249
(210) 458-4956

Stephen C. Brown
University of Texas at San Antonio
Center for Water Research
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
6900 N. Loop 1604 W.
San Antonio, Texas 78249
(210) 458-4956