Illinois Middle School Groundwater Project

Flow Water Model            Ground Water Links

Rockford Teacher training: Summer 2002 :: GroundWater Workshop Summary

Pensacola, FL Teachers training session, Nov 2002

Students Using Groundwater Model 

Initially Funded by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The Illinois Middle School Groundwater Project (IMSGP) is an effort to bring groundwater education to Illinois schools and increase overall community awareness of drinking water issues.

The Project began in January of 1994 in the northern Illinois counties of Boone, Winnebago and McHenry. Middle school teachers in these counties served as the pilot for the four central counties of Mason, Woodford, Tazewell and Peoria, and the four southwestern counties of Madison, St. Clair, Monroe
and Randolph.  Additional teachers have been trained and equipped in Grundy, Kane, Will, Kankakee, Kendall, and Iroquois Counties.  Plans call for adding the counties bordering the Mississippi River in Northwestern Illinois.

Illinois Middle School Groundwater Project goals:

• To produce cadre of concerned and knowledgeable educators, students and families who will work to maintain or improve the groundwater quality in their priority areas.

• To develop a community based educational program that forms partnerships with local and statewide groups with groundwater concerns.

• To create a trainer of trainer's model that can be used for dissemination of groundwater education materials and curricula through cooperative community based effort.

The overall goal of this program was to bring groundwater education to  middle school students living in the  priority areas designated by the state of Illinois as areas of groundwater concern. The project has been successful because of:

1. Cooperation with business and agencies

   A unique aspect of the project is the cooperation between the state agencies, local organizations, and schools to provide groundwater information and hands-on water quality testing experiences.  Local companies, agencies, and organizations primarily donated teaching materials, such as the groundwater flow models that are now in Illinois schools.  Teacher training is coordinated and implemented by the IMSGP staff with the help of Illinois Department of Natural Resources,
   Illinois Geological Survey, county health departments, and local well drillers and water providers.  Corporate and state sponsors, including Ameritech, Illinois-American Water Company,
   Olin Corporation, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois EPA  have joined to provide continuing
   financial and materials support.

2. Participation with other water projects

   The Project is coordinated by the Rivers  Projectt, an innovative, interdisciplinary water quality, river study program used in high schools in the US and Canada.  Slated to run for five years, the IMSGP continues to train teachers in new counties across the state. To date, groundwater education and issues have been introduced into the curricula of over 400 middle and junior high schools in Illinois.

3. Educational Program that covers groundwater subjects well

   A team of  middle school teachers has written a curriculum unit (H20 Below) on groundwater to include general water and geological information, as well as water quality testing activities. The tests for alkalinity, pH, hardness, chlorides, nitrates and  iron are relatively easy to do and can be done in a short period of time. The tests are conducted on well water collected by students with the help of parents.  Complementing the testing is a "Well History" survey, that students and parents use to evaluate their own individual wells.  The latest edition of the H20 Below activity guide includes a chapter on karst topography that will be very useful to those in limestone areas.  Activity kits with materials to accompany the curriculum guide are available, along with test kits, curricula, etc, from the Rivers Project.