Teacher Stephanie Morris helps a group of students figure out the water’s pH level Friday afternoon. Armstrong School District and Divine Redeemer students worked together to build water filtration systems in the Ford City school cafeteria.
by Jonathan Weaver
Public and parochial students combined last week to learn about a worldwide toxin.
Armstrong School District and Divine Redeemer School students split into more than a dozen teams in the Divine Redeemer cafeteria to see the effects of water pollution and hydroponics at their fingertips.
The combined effort was a brainstorm between Armstrong K-12 Gifted Support Facilitator Dr. Judith Mosse and Divine Redeemer Principal Nicalena Carlesi.
“They’re all going to grow up in this world of ours, and we want them to know (to) keep our water clean. They know full-well that the population is getting bigger and bigger and that there is less room to grow plants for food, so using hydroponics can certainly do something about their environment, Carlesi said.
“This is a really nice opportunity for all schools involved.”
Dayton Elementary Gifted Support Teacher and School Librarian Kerry Harding recommended Mosse to Divine Redeemer Fifth-grade Science Teacher Danielle Kephart.
“I was very impressed with what she had to show me and what her plans were, Mosse said.
“Schools are not really sending their students out far away –we’re told to keep things local and inexpensive. When you have an expert like Mrs. Kephart in science and are able to do these things, using her is a great resource to provide the knowledge to students that they need do some of these hands-on activities.”
In the cafeteria, teams filled water with fake contaminants and had a $7 budget to design a successful filtration system.
The experiment came after reading a story by Divine Redeemer English Teacher Lori Young
West Hills Intermediate students Kate Remaley and Eva Shafer said adding bleach to their system made the biggest difference.
“It wasn’t that good before we added the bleach, but it got way better after,” Remaley said. “We used a lot of it, but we got the most amount of water.”
Public water systems have to meet a toxicity level of 6.5-8.5.
Divine Redeemer Sixth-grade Teacher Stephanie Morris helped one group determine their toxicity level. She said most of the groups achieved different levels of clear water
“To pull all the grades and groups together and watch them work was nice to see, Morris said.
“And they’re all talking science.”
Divine Redeemer students also presented their hydroponics presentations to Armstrong students earlier Friday.