OMSI/WinterHaven PSD2000 Project:

Inquiry Sessions | Resources | Teaching Guide

Inquiry Session 1: Watershed Science

Follow the WinterHaven students through their explorations of watershed science in OMSI's Watershed Lab.

Crumple Your Own Watershed | Building Salmon Streams
Macroinvertebrate Investigations

Crumple Your Own Watershed

In OMSI's Crumple Your Own Watershed activity, WinterHaven students created their own models of watersheds and made predictions about where run-off would occur and where streams would form. They learned to read the topography of watersheds by their ridgelines and saw how complex drainage basins can be. In building these models, students learned why one stretch of a river cannot be managed without consideration of the entire watershed.

Crumple your own watershed in class or at home with OMSI's free Crumple Your Own Watershed activity! Download complete, easy-printing step-by-step Crumple Your Own Watershed instructions and worksheets (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format).

Back in their classroom, WinterHaven students extended their understanding of watersheds by creating two-dimensional scale maps of their topographic models.

Using their scale maps, students then projected water run-off for different land use areas.

Extend your watershed investigations in class or at home with WinterHaven's Watershed Land Use activity! Download complete, printable step-by-step Watershed Land Use instructions (in Adobe Acrobat PDF format).

Building Salmon Streams

WinterHaven students used the stream table in OMSI's Watershed Lab to explore the process by which streams are formed, and the properties which enable streams to support salmon.

Students experimented with different stream configurations to explore how:

Macroinvertebrate Investigations

WinterHaven students learned the role macroinvertebrates play in watersheds by investigating the position these small water creatures hold in the food chain.

Students used compound and dissecting video microscopes in OMSI's Watershed Lab to observe macroinvertebrate behaviors and identify species.

Through microscopic observation, students determined that macroinvertebrates are primary consumers, feeding off of algae and other primaries, and being consumed by fish and other larger predators. They were also able to see the vast biodiversity among the macroinvertebrates.

Through experiments, students discovered that some macroinvertebrates are more tolerant of pollution than others, and thus they are an important indicator of stream health. Students concluded that looking at the number and kinds of macroinvertebrates found in a water system can tell you a lot about stream conditions.

go on to Inquiry Session 2

Inquiry Sessions | Resources | Teaching Guide