Project and Water News

The American Water Resource Association (AWRA) will hold its 2014 Spring Specialty Conference May 12–14 at Snowbird Resort in Utah. The theme of the conference is "GIS & Water Resources VIII - Data to Decisions!" Participants will explore the potential of new developments in geographic information systems to improve management of fresh water resources.

CI-WATER partner Wyoming EPSCoR is currently accepting applications for 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships. The Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides support for outstanding undergraduate students in biological sciences, geosciences, hydrology, computational sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, engineering and mathematics. University of Wyoming students are eligible to receive up to $3,500 while conducting research with a faculty mentor. The application deadline is March 21^st. 

Walk into Retta Hudlow's classroom, and you might see students playing Hydropoly, a scientific version of Monopoly, or even testing the pH level of a nearby stream. Retta is a sixth grade science teacher in Pinedale, Wyoming and was one of the first teachers in Wyoming to use the CI-WATER Teaching Toolbox in her classroom.

The toolbox includes a manual with multiple lesson plans for various age groups and the equipment needed to conduct lessons and experiments in the manual.  There are games, books, models and more to help students learn about everything from water modeling to human use and impact on water.

The toolbox is designed for Utah and Wyoming K-12 teachers, students and community groups. The experiments and lessons provided in the toolbox meet new state education standards.

“The Next Generation Science Standards include standards on the water cycle, groundwater resources, human impact, modeling particle motion in different states, along with scientific and engineering processes,” says Retta. “The toolbox addresses many parts of these standards.”

The toolbox gave Retta an opportunity to add to the curriculum she was already teaching.

“I already had a unit on water and weather,” says Retta. “But this added more lessons on the properties of water, which were powerful teaching tools.”

Retta has enjoyed using the toolbox and knows that her students have learned a lot with their time using the toolbox.

“They have learned a great deal about water. Their pre- and post-test scores were impressive,” she says.

For more information about the toolbox, please visit the CI-WATER toolbox page or contact Beth Cable at bcable@uwyo.edu or 307-766-3544

What do you get when you cross Legos, an interest in computers, and a great work ethic? You might get Nathan Swain, a Brigham Young University doctoral student and CI-WATER researcher working on mobile applications and modeling for CI-WATER.

Check out this one-minute spotlight video, and hear Nathan describe how following his interests has led him to discover a career he loves.

Watch the Video...