I wanted to post here some propositions on possible research activities we can carry out during the field trip with young Nunavutmiuts. Look at what I've found out!
"Over two thirds of Earth's surface is covered by water; less than a third is taken up by land. As Earth's population continues to grow, people are putting ever-increasing pressure on the planet's water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers, and other inland waters are being "squeezed" by human activities—not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution." - http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html
"Pollution from toxic chemicals threatens life on this planet. Every ocean and every continent, from the tropics to the once-pristine polar regions, is contaminated." - WWF
There are different types of water pollution: groundwater pollution and surface water pollution. We can also distinguish point-source pollution and non-point-source pollution, depending on how it happens.
"There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water. One is to take samples of the water and measure the concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great, we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects, and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are called biological indicators of water quality." http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html
http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/Test_Kits/Kits_Main.html - kids organization that provides lots of information about water pollution for schools. They also run a project of basic water quality tests (kits are available on their website). But this is just veeeeeery basic stuff for primary schools. However, "LaMotte Company is the only company that manufacturers the WWMD test kit; however, if you are interested in adding tests to your monitoring (beyond pH, DO, turbidity and temperature), you can find equipment from the below vendors"On of these vendors is http://www.watermonitoringequip.com/pages/home.html or http://www.lovibond.com/ but I don't really know what kind of instruments are we looking for.
Here are two experiments proposed by StudentBuddies:
1) Study the Effect of Fertilizers on Algal Growth (doesn't really seem like Arctic... They don't harvest anything there and so they don't use fertilizers!) http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/EnvSci_p054.shtml
2) Cleaning Up Oil Spills - In this science project, you'll test the absorptivity of different materials (sorbents) to discover which ones are best at removing oil from water. interesting, but does it refere to the problems of Nunavut? According to WWF, thay might have such troubles if we don't stop drilling... http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/EnvEng_p025.shtml
And other ways to measure the quality of water http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/photo-gallery.html are described here. But I don't think this is what we are looking for...
Finally, let's have a look at what International Arctic Research Center will tell us... Nothing accept a great load of information etc. So I have send them an e-mail.
I have also contacted a US organisation Surfers Against Sewage and asked for some research activities propositions. waiting for their reply!
"Over two thirds of Earth's surface is covered by water; less than a third is taken up by land. As Earth's population continues to grow, people are putting ever-increasing pressure on the planet's water resources. In a sense, our oceans, rivers, and other inland waters are being "squeezed" by human activities—not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced. Poorer water quality means water pollution." - http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html
"Pollution from toxic chemicals threatens life on this planet. Every ocean and every continent, from the tropics to the once-pristine polar regions, is contaminated." - WWF
There are different types of water pollution: groundwater pollution and surface water pollution. We can also distinguish point-source pollution and non-point-source pollution, depending on how it happens.
"There are two main ways of measuring the quality of water. One is to take samples of the water and measure the concentrations of different chemicals that it contains. If the chemicals are dangerous or the concentrations are too great, we can regard the water as polluted. Measurements like this are known as chemical indicators of water quality. Another way to measure water quality involves examining the fish, insects, and other invertebrates that the water will support. If many different types of creatures can live in a river, the quality is likely to be very good; if the river supports no fish life at all, the quality is obviously much poorer. Measurements like this are called biological indicators of water quality." http://www.explainthatstuff.com/waterpollution.html
http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/Test_Kits/Kits_Main.html - kids organization that provides lots of information about water pollution for schools. They also run a project of basic water quality tests (kits are available on their website). But this is just veeeeeery basic stuff for primary schools. However, "LaMotte Company is the only company that manufacturers the WWMD test kit; however, if you are interested in adding tests to your monitoring (beyond pH, DO, turbidity and temperature), you can find equipment from the below vendors"On of these vendors is http://www.watermonitoringequip.com/pages/home.html or http://www.lovibond.com/ but I don't really know what kind of instruments are we looking for.
Here are two experiments proposed by StudentBuddies:
1) Study the Effect of Fertilizers on Algal Growth (doesn't really seem like Arctic... They don't harvest anything there and so they don't use fertilizers!) http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/EnvSci_p054.shtml
2) Cleaning Up Oil Spills - In this science project, you'll test the absorptivity of different materials (sorbents) to discover which ones are best at removing oil from water. interesting, but does it refere to the problems of Nunavut? According to WWF, thay might have such troubles if we don't stop drilling... http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/EnvEng_p025.shtml
And other ways to measure the quality of water http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/photo-gallery.html are described here. But I don't think this is what we are looking for...
Finally, let's have a look at what International Arctic Research Center will tell us... Nothing accept a great load of information etc. So I have send them an e-mail.
I have also contacted a US organisation Surfers Against Sewage and asked for some research activities propositions. waiting for their reply!
