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The incredible edible aquifer at the Idaho State University Communiversity event

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Keith Reinhardt at ISU engages K-12 in learning about their aquifer with the incredible edible aquifer at the Communiversity event at ISU (photo: Kathleen Lohse, ISU)

03 Apr 2014

Fifty K-12 students plus parents were engaged by the edible aquifer and learned about their source of drinking water and aquifer

Image: Keith Reinhardt at ISU engages K-12 in learning about their aquifer with the incredible edible aquifer at the Communiversity event at ISU (photo: Kathleen Lohse, ISU) [Click image to enlarge]

Outreach / Education Research

National
Reynolds

Researchers at Idaho State University, Kathleen Lohse and Keith Reinhardt, engaged 50+ K-12 students and their parents (~100) at the ISU Communiversity event (March 18th) in learning about their source of drinking water and their aquifer using the incredible edible aquifer.

Our exercise started with asking students with flash cards about the source of drinking water in Idaho and questions like what is an aquifer?, what is groundwater?, and what are possible contaminants that might get to the groundwater? We constructed an edible aquifer and reviewed these components of an aquifer. The student then enthusiastically dug a well (straws) and pumped the groundwater (soda) and observed subsidence. Food coloring was used to demonstrate how point source can potentially lead to groundwater contamination.

News Category:
EDUCATION/OUTREACH

Files

Edible aquifer
(46 KB pdf)
Great educational outreach activity used in combination with visuals to engage K-gray on aquifers obtained from http://www.mines.unr.edu/