Online Resources
- Texas Stream Team Home
- River Systems Institute
- Texas Commission On Environmental Quality
- Environmental Protection Agency Region 6
- Aquarena Center
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Teachers as Monitors
TEACHERS AS MONITORS
About 40% of Texas Stream Team monitoring groups are teachers and their students. Educators find Texas Stream Team to be a valuable teaching tool that lends itself to cross-disciplinary instruction. By teaching students how to measure what is happening in the environment around them, Texas Stream Team helps teachers effectively present the abstract concepts of biology, chemistry and ecology. With a broader understanding of water quality issues, students are better prepared to form solutions to environmental concerns.
Teachers who complete the three-phase training and become Certified Water Quality Monitors have two options for getting their students involved in Texas Stream Team monitoring. Students in grades K-12 as well as college students can monitor a body of water under a teacher's supervision with activities based on the educational objectives of the class. A teacher who goes a step further and becomes a Certified Trainer can then train students (grades 6-12 and college) to become certified monitors. These students can then go on to form groups and monitor their own sites.
Aquarena Center located on beautiful Spring Lake in San Marcos, TX has environmental education activities and tours.