So how do you run a hands-on course on water quality testing that more than 80 students can participate in at no cost?

The answer comes from Brian (Missouri), who entered pictures from the 4th Grade Fishing Day in the LaMotte 2003 photo contest.

We appreciate Brian's words of wisdom: At the annual 4th Grade Fishing Day on May 21, 2003 all four of the 4th grade classes participate and rotate through instructional areas that include: (1) fishing; (2) nature walk; (3) cooking; and (4) water quality testing. Unfortunately, the budget for this year's event was completely eliminated and we had to rely solely on volunteers and donations for materials. So how do you run a hands-on course on water quality testing that more than 80 students can participate in at no cost? The answer was GREEN's Low Cost Water Monitoring Kit, which was donated by one of our parents. The number and variety of tests more than held the students' interests and allowed everyone to participate. Not only that, but the students learned to conduct their own test then pooled data with other students to arrive at a final estimation of water quality. This was a valuable lesson we had not anticipated. This kit truly saved the day for our students. Our volunteer parents also felt very comfortable instructing the students in each of the tests because of the great easy-to-follow instructions provided with the kit. We look forward to another great Fishing Day next year with the help of the LaMotte Company and the GREEN Low Cost Kit. Thanks for such a wonderful product and your enthusiastic approach to providing such educational materials.

Editorial Comment: Additional color charts and tubes for all the teams can be ordered from GREEN/Earth Force, Global Rivers Environmental Education Network, by calling 703-519-6877. Thank you for your endorsement!

P.S. Mathern (Pennsylvania) writes that "LaMotte products are used extensively by our students for science fair projects. This student (Nathan's picture using the LaMotte project kit was entered into our photo contest) won 1st place at the District Science Fair, 1st place at the County Science Fair, a Discovery Channel nomination, and regional honors." Congratulations Nathan!

For more ideas and applications for the GREEN kits, check out how Sherry Schaaf, Middle School Water Quality Coordinator, from Washington has developed a low cost program around them.