Beczak

We had a great class at the Beczaz Center on the Hudson River again. This one was called "The Great Water Mix-Up". There were discussions on the river's salinity levels and pollution. The kids each were given a salinity meter (plastic, looks like a scale), filled it with water and observed the reading. There were samples of salt water, fresh water, and brackish water and they had to guess which was which based on the reading. The reading determined how many grams of salt were in every 1000mL of water (0 to 7 is fresh, 8-26 is brackish, and 27-35 is salt). Then the kids formed 4 groups. Each group was a company created to clean up polluted water. They were each given play money, a list of supplies to choose from, and a large cylinder of polluted water. This water (Beczak created) was polluted with oil, dirt, and chemicals - just like real bodies of water. The kids had to figure out which supplies to buy that would work best in cleaning up their sample. J's team bought a pipet, some cottonballs, and a screen. W's team bought a bottle of fresh water, a screen, and a funnel. It was hysterical watching them all come up with their own methods.