Material Teaches About Lake, Water

 Jeff Belk, left, Rogers High School outdoor education teacher, takes water quality samples Wednesday and searches for water-based life forms in Beaver Lake with his students. The Beaver Water District has spent about $220,000 on kindergarten through 12th-grade educational programs over the past seven years, said Amy Wilson, the district’s director of public affairs.
Jeff Belk, left, Rogers High School outdoor education teacher, takes water quality samples Wednesday and searches for water-based life forms in Beaver Lake with his students. The Beaver Water District has spent about $220,000 on kindergarten through 12th-grade educational programs over the past seven years, said Amy Wilson, the district’s director of public affairs.

Editor's note

The Beaver Water District’s Building Blocks to Water Education materials have reached an estimated 9,500 students and teachers in seven years, said Amy Wilson, a spokeswoman for the district. The number was incorrect Sunday and has been updated now.

— Water officials hope an education program used in Northwest Arkansas schools will help future generations make the right decisions about preserving the area’s main source of drinking water — Beaver Lake.

The program, called Building Blocks to Water Education, is a project of Beaver Water District.

Over the past few years, the district rolled out material, curriculum and training for water education in kindergarten through 10th grades, with plans to introduce 11th- and 12th-grade material next school year.

Alan Fortenberry, the district’s chief executive officer, said he hopes the education program will help residents make good decisions about the watershed before there’s a crisis.

“Usually what you find is you don’t worry about a water shortage until the well runs dry,” he said.

The district has spent about $220,000 on kindergarten through 12th-grade educational programs over the past seven years, said Amy Wilson, the district’s director of public affairs. The educational material has reached an estimated 9,500 teachers and students, she said.

The district processes and distributes drinking water to Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.

Some students in one Rogers High School class that’s been using the curriculum said they didn’t know until this year their water comes from Beaver Lake.

Now that they know that, and know their actions in the area around the lake can affect water quality, they are more conscientious, they said.

“Whenever I see trash now, I pick it up,” said Veronica Toledo, a senior at Rogers High School. “I know that can end up in the lake.”

Toledo is in the outdoor education class taught by Jeff Belk.

Belk helped create the ninth- and 10th-grade material, and is working on 11th and 12th grades. He uses some of the material, such as a water-quality testing exercise, in his outdoors class.

He said many students come to his class, which is for juniors and seniors, with little understanding of where their water comes from.

Brian Day is executive director of the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Day said when he learned about electricity in elementary school more than 40 years ago, the lesson was provided by the local electric utility. Such collaboration is nothing new, he said, but it can be beneficial.

Teachers should be careful about using provided material, he said. Because there are so many groups that provide instructional material, teachers should make sure it is accurate and free of bias, he said.

“The purpose of environmental education isn’t to persuade people of a specific argument,” he said. “It’s to prepare people to make their own decisions.”

The association provides guidelines and lessons on how to evaluate educational material.

The water district provides material for different lessons, custom made to represent Northwest Arkansas.

For example, there’s a molded plastic landscape complete with Beaver Lake, Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and other landmarks.

Students can fill the lake with water, put dyed water in different areas on the landscape to represent sediment and chemicals, then make it “rain” on the board with a spray bottle to see how the different substances end up in the lake.

At higher grade levels, there’s a board game with water trivia.

Kathy Hudson teaches gifted classes for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in the Rogers School District. She said the material is more effective because it’s localized.

“These kids have Beaver Lake in their backyard,” she said. “It is authentic learning. It is their lake.”

Wilson said the material integrates different areas such as math, literacy and science, and was designed to align with state curriculum requirements.

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Web Watch

• North American Association for Environmental Education www.naaee.org/

• Beaver Water District (Click on education link for access to teaching materials) www.bwdh2o.org/

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