Students Test The Water For Science Lesson

Manchester High School students waded through the water to do some water samples as part of a science lesson. (Photo courtesy Manchester Schools)

  MANCHESTER – Township high school students regularly take tests but recently they got to literally test the waters as part of a hands-on lesson.

  The students got the opportunity to hang out on train tracks, wade through water and review their findings of their water testing analysis. During this field work, they were collecting and analyzing water samples from a stream behind their school building.

Manchester Township High School students are on track to learn some science. (Photo courtesy Manchester Schools)

  Their teacher Danielle Palmieri said Barnegat Bay Educational Representative GraceAnn Taylor gave a presentation to her Marine Science and Advanced Placement Environmental Science Class students about macroinvertebrates.

  Palmieri noted, “we took the students ‘off property’ to the stream behind the school and completed a water testing analysis. Some students received samples and were classifying marine invertebrates, other students were in the stream collecting samples or making other scientific observations.

  “At the time this analysis was completed, we concluded that the stream behind the school was in good/fair health based on temperature, speed of water and organisms found in the sediment. Students in these classes will be going out weekly to continue their analysis and see if any changes occur before the end of the year,” Palmieri added.

  “We did use an app on our phone to keep track of the macro invertebrates we found. Typically, you collect 100 macros to get a complete idea of the health of the stream. We did not do this just yet. This was the students’ first time learning what their task is and why,” the teacher said.

Manchester science class students confer on their findings after performing water testing analysis during a recent field trip. (Photo courtesy Manchester Schools)

  Palmieri said, “I have planned at least once a week to go back to the stream and continue with our analysis. I will also have the students send me a picture of their app so that you can see how the macros tell us one part of the health of the stream.”