 BlueBoat system equipped with YSI ProDSS sonde. This week, Kim and I spent time in Louisiana supporting a teacher professional development workshop, focused on environmental exploration. This workshop, a part of the MissDelta Project workforce development initiative series, sought to connect K-12 teachers in Louisiana with scientists and researchers to integrate local knowledge into teaching practices. We spent the day exploring a wetland, conducting water sampling, learning about home sewer systems, touring a wastewater treatment plant, and talking through how to incorporate local environmental issues into teaching at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. I had a wonderful time connecting with these teachers, talking through some simple and low cost experiments for the classroom, and answering lots of questions, especially at the wastewater treatment plant.
One of my favorite parts of the day was conducting water sampling with the teachers in the wetland after taking a tractor ride to arrive on site. The teachers got to see some low cost tools for conducting water sampling, including a refractometer (~$20) for salinity measurements, a secchi disk tube (~$30) for turbidity measurements, and a dissolved oxygen test kit (~$20). However, I think we all enjoyed the BlueBoat sampling the most. The BlueBoat - linked here, though not sponsored or affiliated - is an uncrewed surface vessel that is approximately the size of a college MicroFridge (microwave and mini-fridge combination) meant for collecting field data through remote control means. The user drives the BlueBoat with an Xbox controller and our colleagues at LSU outfitted the boat with a YSI water quality sampling device and probes to collect salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and other data while the boat drives around. The teachers loved the video game aspect of using this water sampling technology, and Kim and I loved the feasibility of this technology for the water quality data we want to collect for our own research. I have started the process of pricing out and building plans for this device, since we can attach our own YSI water quality sampling device and our new nitrate sensor to collect all the environmental data necessary to inform our modeling efforts. We also liked seeing how excited the teachers were, as we hope this device will be a fun and interactive outreach tool for children, young scientists, and other members of the public. I can't wait until we get our hands on this awesome piece of equipment and then get to see which member of our team is the best at piloting the boat. Stay tuned for more adventures and updates!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
RSS Feed
