Teacher Pages

High School Teachers
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What is Splash?

The Splash high school program

Program expectations of teachers

Standards alignment

What teachers receive

Program eligibility

Outside of Sacramento County

What local teachers say about Splash

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What is Splash?

Splash is a place-based environmental science program offered to teachers within Sacramento County. Splash draws connections between aquatic life, water quality and the way we live in our watersheds. By studying the life in local streams, high school students meet myriad small creatures who depend on clean water for life. Their connection to this intricate web of life empowers them to join community efforts to protect water and habitat where they live.

The Splash High School Program

While some science curricula require hours of preparation, Life in Our Watershed: Investigating Streams and Water Quality allows teachers to dive right in with their students. It all begins with The Living Watershed DVD which opens a window into the fascinating, underwater world of aquatic insects and other benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs). The three lessons of the curriculum are supported by watching the DVD, reading the Student Handbook, and responding to questions in the Student Workbook. All materials are provided free of charge.

Lesson 1 - World class micro-video carries live stream invertebrates into the classroom, followed by hands-on examination of preserved specimens. With a Splash pictorial guide and dissecting microscopes, students identify specimens, learn their life histories, and conduct a bioassessment to gauge stream health.
Lesson 2 - Students measure the toxicity of water samples using a Daphnia bioassay. Splash provides live Daphnia and the equipment to conduct this hands-on laboratory.
Lesson 3 -Students master plan a town and discover how local development decisions affect streams and the quality of life in our watershed.

Program Expectations of Teachers

To be eligible to participate in Splash, high school teachers must devote at least five class periods to Splash lessons. A four-hour workshop provides all the guidance needed to use the logical, cohesive and teacher-friendly curriculum. The entire curriculum can be reviewed on-line at www.sacsplash.org/streams.htm.

What Teachers Receive

Splash loans the following materials to teach Life in Our Watershed: Investigating Streams and Water Quality at no cost to teachers, as long as they continue to teach the curriculum:

Teacher's Manual - 1 per teacher
The Living Watershed DVD - 1 per teacher
Guide to Stream BMIs - 1 per 2 students
Student Handbooks - 1 class set per teacher
Student Workbooks - 1 per student
Laboratory supplies - 1 set per school
BMI specimens - 1 collection per school
Live Daphnia - for each bioassay conducted

Standards Alignment

The Splash curriculum is aligned with the California science standards and integrates standards for language arts, American government, and math. The Teacher's Manual lists the standards addressed by the curriculum. The materials are suitable for Grades 10 and 11, either for General Science or more advanced classes.

Program Eligibility

Sacramento Splash is a hands-on science program available at no cost to high school teachers at all schools within Sacramento County. Life in Our Watershed: Investigating Streams and Water Quality lets 10th and 11th graders explore the diversity of life in our local streams, while learning what it takes to protect the watersheds around them.

Outside of Sacramento County

Program funding is limited to schools within Sacramento County. However, teachers outside of the county are encouraged to download and use all Splash curriculum on this web site. Copies may be freely made for non-profit, educational purposes as long as they retain the Splash logo. The Splash DVD The Living Watershed is not available on line. However, please inquire about purchasing a copy by emailing us at info@sacspash.org. .

What Local Teachers Say about Splash

The Splash program's bioassay materials provide us with another water quality monitoring tool for our project. Its curriculum focuses on the local history and current issues of Sacramento area watersheds.
--Cindy Suchanek, Environmental Science Instructor, Mira Loma High School (www.arcadecreekproject.org)

Splash is an eye-opener to how our human actions on land affect our watersheds. The learning activities provide a way for students to understand how we plan our community infrastructure and how we can monitor the impact our plans have on the environment in our own neighborhoods.
--Charmaine Boulmay Biology / Earth Science Instructor Center High School

I like Splash because it allows me to teach students real hands-on applications to water quality testing, such as bioassays using Daphnia. Splash also makes students aware of environmental surroundings, [so they are]… more likely to become problem solvers of water pollution.
--Matt Tozzi, Integrated Science I & II Instructor, Center High School

Splash has given students the opportunity to analyze local water sources by providing the tools to perform bioassays. Through hands-on activities and reading materials, they can theorize the probable causes of water pollution in our watersheds. As a result students have an understanding of the causes and consequences of poor water quality locally and globally.
--Kelli Kosney, Biology Instructor, Sheldon High School