RiverWatch Education Assessment

A grade nine science class tours through a wastewater treatment plant during the RiverWatch Science Program

School and school board administrators ask a variety of questions when they evaluate the educational benefits of any field trip.

The RiverWatch Science Program is pleased to highlight a sampling of these assessment questions and answers.

Click here if you have any further questions concerning the Education Assessment of River Watch!

Click here for more information on Curriculum Fit.

What class or school group does this activity involve?

The RiverWatch Science Program was originally created in 1995 to present the Grade Nine Environmental Quality Unit. Since that time, RiverWatch has been used in several other junior and senior high science courses where a field trip enhances the study of ecosystems and human impact.

Click here for more information about grades and courses.

How is the field trip group determined?

As much as possible, this activity should include all students in the grade or course. If taking the entire grade or course is not feasible or desirable, teachers may determine participation through an application process.

Where fees are a concern, it is a common practice for schools to at least subsidize the cost for their financially disadvantaged students - if not all students - and thereby ensure the fullest possible participation.

Teachers have said that RiverWatch is their ecology unit!

How has the activity part of the planned program for this class or group?

It is quite possible to plan the entire Grade Nine Environmental Quality Unit around the RiverWatch trip - starting with pre-trip background knowledge and practice tests; to on-site testing of water quality, sewage treatment tours and witnessing our impact on our river; to post trip follow-up and data analysis back at school.

At the Biology 20 level - where a field study is mandated by the provincial curriculum - students are able to observe first-hand the biogeochemical cycling of water, phosphorus and nitrogen. Abiotic and biotic factors are measured and used to judge human impact on a river ecosystem.

The section of the RiverWatch Web Site entitled "Student Information" assists students and bridges classroom work with field work.

What student learning outcomes from the Program of Studies would best describe the goals of this activity?

What student learning outcomes from the Program of Studies would best describe the goals of this activity?

The entire RiverWatch Science Program was originally created to present the Grade Nine "Environmental Quality" Unit. River Watch also provides an excellent field study for Biology 20 "Unit 3 Matter and Energy Exchange in Ecosystems".

At both junior and senior high levels, RiverWatch provides valuable experience with the skills required by field studies. This trip also has emotional appeal and develops values concerning rivers and environmental issues.

The new Program Outcomes for Grade Eight Science and Grade Nine Science are scheduled for implementation over the years 2001 - 2004. The new Grade Eight Unit "Freshwater Ecosystems" and the new Grade Nine Unit "Environmental Chemistry" will continue to mesh very well with the field trip opportunity provided by RiverWatch.

RiverWatch is an "equipment intensive" program

Has the filter of equity been applied?

Both male and female students can participate equally and the program can accommodate students using wheelchairs.

The fee for a RiverWatch trip covers a full day on the river including such costs as transportation, substitute teachers, raft equipment, guides, chemistry tests, insurance and GST. The RiverWatch program operates entirely on a not-for-profit, user-pay and cost-recovery basis independent of any government or school board support for operating revenue.

The RiverWatch Field Trip carries a significant fee per student along with additional costs for substitute teachers and bus transportation. It is worth noting, however, that a commercial whitewater raft trip of the same duration using the same equipment and guides commands a much greater $100 fee.

For students that cannot afford the fee or the entire fee, many schools subsidize those students from fundraising accounts, parent council funds, departmental budgets or discretionary accounts.

What criteria and measures are being used to determine that the trip is worthwhile given the inherent and understood risks?

Teachers book the RiverWatch Field Trip believing that hands-on experiences are the best way to teach and learn about ecology. Since starting in 1995, RiverWatch Field Trips have been in great demand across central and southern Alberta and more than 4000 students a year now gather data first-hand from their local rivers.

The RiverWatch Web Site supports student work before and after the field trip

This hands-on ecology field trip has been designed for to meet the Alberta Learning Curriculum for several junior and senior high science courses. The field trip data collected by students is analyzed back at school to support studies of environmental quality, environmental chemistry and aquatic ecosystems.

Several participating schools - Bishop Pinkham, Louis Riel and Tom Baines - have reported that their students score 10-13% higher than provincial averages on related sections of Alberta Grade Nine Achievement Exam.

Can a quality experience be provided at a more local site?

RiverWatch students monitor the environmental health of rivers flowing through the centre of their towns and cities

A RiverWatch Field Trip is already a quality experience and a local experience. Students examine the health of their local river as it flows through the centre of their city. The quality of the program has been recognized with a national level Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence.

The existence of a local RiverWatch Science Program has meant that there is really no need for students to travel outside of their communities to examine environmental quality. RiverWatch offers local programs in 13 urban centres on 8 rivers across central and southern Alberta.