Des Moines suburbs rely on their water sources for nourishment, entertainment and wildlife and students at the Indian Hills Junior High in Clive have been learning since the beginning of the year how important clean water is to their community.
More than just learning about the issue, though, they hope to spread the word to others in their neighborhood.
Megan Hamilton teaches eighth-grade science as a project-based learning course, in which students go beyond the textbook to apply their lessons to real life.
When her classes began studying watersheds in September, she brought her students to nearby Walnut Creek to test its water quality to show them how pollution can affect water sources. She made the students aware of factors that can impact the health of their local watershed, and then reached out to Pete DeKock, Clive s assistant city manager, to see if they could collaborate on a larger scale.