Project and Water News

CI-WATER partner, Wyoming EPSCoR introduces postdoc research scientist Mine Dogan in this blog article. Dogan’s paper, “Predicting flow and transport in highly hetergenous alluvial aquifers,” recently appeared in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Soon, teachers will have a new set of educational resources to teach core concepts using water science and computer modeling. Developed from a collaboration between secondary science teachers, CI-WATER researchers and the science education specialists at the University of Utah’s Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC), the resources bring together water science, computer modeling and water management in the West.

The online resources expand CI-WATER-developed educational resources which include water science Teaching Toolboxes. The Toolboxes support hands-on science with equipment, materials, lesson ideas and more.

“We’re excited to share these new online resources with the public,” says Dr. Laura Hunter, who heads the CI-WATER Education and Outreach team. “They will help us build a stronger pipeline of youth who are prepared to advance in STEM careers.”

The project to develop the resources began in 2013 with the CI-WATER Water Resources Modeling Summer Institute. During the week-long event, teachers from Utah and Wyoming learned about various aspects of the CI-WATER project directly from project participants. Guided by a GSLC facilitator, they then brainstormed ways to incorporate concepts and methods used by CI-WATER researchers into the high school science classroom.

The resources will be freely available online:  

Interactives & Videos

Manage a Watershed 1.0. In this online interactive, students pick a city type and make water-management decisions over a one-year period in a watershed representative of the Intermountain West. 

Pick-A-Model. Engage kids with an online game that challenges them to find a suitable model to solve a problem.

Why We Need Models. This video helps viewers learn how models help us see processes we can’t directly observe or are difficult to understand. It also discusses the role of assumptions and estimates in modeling. 

Web Pages

What You Can Do With Models. Students can learn more—lots more—with visually rich web pages that use real-life example to explore how models are used to show, explain, recreate and predict.

Modeling in Action: Water in the West. The American West faces unique water resource challenges. These web pages explore how water is modeled, allocated and forecasted. 

Printable Activities

GIS as a Model. In this class activity, students learn how scientists develop models to better understand complex systems. It uses real-life GIS data from Wyoming database systems so students can pick a specific town, collect precipitation data over time for the location and identify how the data might influence water management decisions.

Manage a Watershed Print-and-Go. A companion to Manage a Watershed 1.0, this activity can be used as a print alternative to or enhancement of the online version.

On October 30, CI-WATER partner the University of Wyoming hosted the first Wyoming Women in Science and Engineering (WWiSE) Symposium. Event highlights included a presentation by Wyoming EPSCoR Associate Director Sarah Konrad on ways to increase the involvement of women in STEM fields.

Halloween doesn’t need to be all about ghouls and goblins. In fact, it can be all about science. Here are 3 tricks to make this Halloween a science treat:

Put dry ice on center stage:

Dry ice is actually frozen carbon dioxide, which makes it an extra fun tool for special Halloween effects. As it melts, it immediately turns to CO2 vapor. Use this trick to make your jack-o-lantern ooze white smoke, or to carbonate a bowl of punch.

1. Place a cup of warm water inside your jack o lantern. Using tongs or gloves, drop a piece of dry ice in the water and stand back as the vapor pours out of the pumpkin’s mouth.
   
   
2. Drop a few pieces of dry ice into a bowl of punch. The punch will bubble and gurgle until the ice is gone, leaving behind a carbonated drink.

Make your own lava lamp:

Supplies:         1 bottle vegetable oil

                       Water

                       Alka Seltzer

                       A plastic or glass jar, with lid

Use the polar properties of oil and water to make a quick and easy lava lamp. Fill the jar ¼ full with water. Fill the rest with oil. Add a few drops of food coloring and then toss in half a tab of Alka Selzter. Screw on the lid. The colored water will form droplets as the Alka Seltzer pushes them into the vegetable oil. These droplets will bounce up and down in the oil while the Alka Seltzer works its magic.

Make your Jack o Lantern glow like a rainbow

Supplies:         hand sanitizer

                      Boric acid (or Borax)

                      1 carved pumpkin

Rub the hand sanitizer on the outside and inside of the carved pumpkin, and then dust with the boric acid or Borax.

Place the pumpkin on a fire-safe surface and then light it with a match. A rainbow of colors will dance across the pumpkin’s surface. Here’s why:

The alcohol in the hand sanitizer turns the flame blue. The boric acid makes it green. Sodium in the pumpkin flesh tints it yellow, and the hollowed out pumpkin glows orange. Wa-la! Rainbow flaming jack o lantern.

The flame should die out fast, thanks to the alcohol, and then only water will remain on the pumpkin.

Sources:

• http://www.science-sparks.com/2012/09/20/spooky-lava-lamps/
• http://chemistry.about.com/od/halloweenchemistry/a/Rainbow-Fire-Halloween-Jack-O-Lantern.htm
• http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/awesome-dry-ice-experiments