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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Stream Study as Play and Education

I recently took my three sons out to a local creek to help me with a stream study project, a homework assignment for It's Our Water (IOW) educator workshop I am taking online.  As you can see from the pictures, my sons cover a broad range in age (10, 13 & 16).  I wanted to engage my youngest, Colin with more water play and critter hunting and my oldest, Will, with some of
 the more analytical research (water testing, measuring stream profile, etc).  We all had fun measuring the flow rate.  Colin volunteered one of his rubber ducks to float down stream over a measured course (sorry no pics of Capt. Quackers, all hands were busy) to measure the flow rate.  We had a grand time spending a sunny Sunday afternoon wading, netting and discovering
 that our creek is in fact pretty darn healthy.  In terms of critters, we found clams, snails, mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly larvae (all safely return to the same spot in the stream they were found).  We even found a dragon fly that has just emerged and was floating down stream.  Colin caught him and we got him up on a branch along the bank where he could dry off.  It was a fun trip down memory lane for me. 
I grew up on the east side of Cleveland
 where I was able to explore and play in the woods and streams of the Doan Brook watershed and later in college studied aquatic systems as part of my biology major.  Having my boys with me, allowed me to see this stream through their eyes and to get back in touch with all of the experiences.  I encourage everyone to get out and explore your local stream.
You will find interesting creatures and likely some wonderful memories. 

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