GIS and water quality

I attended a week long GIS workshop at the University of Toledo a couple of weeks ago. The emphasis was on water quality. We used various kits to take measurements of pH, turbidity, phosphates, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Since I'm not a science teacher I learned more than most who had done this type of thing before. We also uploaded our data to the Globe project website, and some groups downloaded data from Globe for our culminating research project.

I thought a lot about how we could do something on a larger scale throughout Monroe County with students at area schools. You know the drill... involve the students in a "real" scientific experiment, record and share "real" data with the rest of the world... to make it more motivating for students than just reading about water quality in a textbook.

I hit on the idea of monitoring the water quality of the River Raisin which meanders through a large part of Monroe County, eventually ending up in Lake Erie. In addition to the various creeks and tributaries, there are miles of man-made ditches that handle run-off from the many farms in southeast Michigan.

The real motivation for me is to see if our water quality has been adversely affected by the CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) or "megafarms" that have been popping up over the past several years. I managed to find a Google map that had already pinpointed the location of these operations. I superimposed a map of the River Raisin watershed and was amazed to see how close many of these megafarms are to the tributaries that lead through Monroe County and ultimately Lake Erie. (See the map below)

I also found a citizen watchdog website, the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan that has accumulated a lot of evidence of illegal discharges, including photos and data. This group has not taken any data readings for quite awhile, probably due to a lack of funding or manpower.

I hope I am able to convince some dedicated teachers to take up this cause and to involve their students in what I hope is a worthwhile project.



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I'm back

I've spent the past 4 weeks "off the grid" as much as possible. I had a chance to visit relatives in Tennessee, remodel a bathroom, attend a week long GIS workshop, and go to a Cincinnati Reds game. Aside from checking emails and keeping my fantasy baseball teams up to date, I haven't posted to my blog or even bothered to check my bloglines feeds. It's been kind of nice to be disconnected for awhile.

Today is my first day back at work, and I have a zillion things to catch up on, so it may still be awhile before I compose a REAL blog post.

It's been a great summer.

Testing the FLIP video

Here's a short video of the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes & Drums performing in Monroe, MI on June 20, 2008. I used the FLIP video to record it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the audio quality. It gets a little distorted at the loudest volumes, but overall I thought the audio was quite good.

Ordinarily the Fifes & Drums wear beautiful red coats, but the director pointed out that these were on their way to the Basel Tattoo, Basel, Switzerland, July 15-19.

For more info about the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes & Drums go to: http://www.history.org/History/fife&drum/about.cfm

50 open source alternatives

Thanks to the Cool Cat Teacher for this link to the Top 50 Proprietary Programs that drive you crazy and their open source alternatives.

This list is nicely organized into the categories of Basics, Office Suites, Office Tools, Productivity, Graphic Programs, Web Editors, Publishing, Communications, Media, Utilities, Security, and Financial.

Lots of good stuff to explore!

Name that landmark

My kids used to enjoy the PBS show "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" and the computer game.

Here's a modern day version using Google Maps. It would be very easy for a teacher to add a couple of clues and then a street view of the landmark to a classroom web page like this:

1. A famous Revolutionary War battle took place here on June 17, 1775.
2. The British Army was victorious, but lost over 800 men


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Today's useless (but fun) fact... photo M&Ms

They're expensive, but you can now get your photo on your very own customized M&Ms.
AND you can even get MLB team M&Ms like these for my favorite team, the Tigers:

Learn more here: http://www.mymms.com/

Here's a lesson for your math class...

Is it better to replace a car that gets 10 MPG with one that gets 20 MPG, OR should you replace a car that gets 25 MPG with one that gets 50 MPG???