Middle School Hydrology Lab

Splish-splash! Grade-7 Science students in Ms. Metzler’s and Mr. Moore’s class are experimenting with Earth’s waters. The driving force behind this lab is to collect data and distinguish just how does temperature and salinity of different waters affect the dissolved oxygen?  

This unit’s focus is the hydrosphere.  The students have been learning about eutrophication and the importance of healthy water on Earth.  The lab consists of stations with beakers of water.  Station 1 is a cold bath set at 5 degrees Celsius, each beaker is holding ocean water, wetland water (brackish), freshwater and a beaker of aerated freshwater.  Station 2 has the same waters but set at a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius for a warm bath.   Station 3 also has the same waters but set at room temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.  

At each station students will work independently testing each water beaker for salinity using a hydrometer, and for dissolved oxygen using a specialized oxygen sensitive tablet. Students collect and record their testing results, make a graph of their data, analyze and make a conclusion based on their own data.  Once they make a conclusion they will report their findings in a Google Site prepared specifically for this lab.