- Black Mesa Trust sponsors WET teachers' seminars -

MOENCOPI, (Ariz.), May 9, 2005-Sixteen teachers from Moencopi Day School on the Hopi Reservation experienced first-hand and hands-on how to enhance muilti-disciplinary instruction in their classrooms by using a curriculum focused on one of the earth's most limited natural resources-fresh water.

The two-day Water Education Training (WET) Seminar on April 26 and 27 was presented by Dana Flowers from Arizona Project WET at the University of Arizona and Mansel Nelson from Northern Arizona University's Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). The grassroots organization Black Mesa Trust assumed the costs of the seminar through a grant from the Christensen Fund. The Trust is working to educate youngsters about the scientific, ethical, and cultural properties water, including the N-aquifer underlying Black Mesa, and to fostering the just, equitable, and sustainable use of the sacred resource of water around the world. The WET seminars are a perfect vehicle for helping the Trust take its message to teachers and parents.

All afternoon the Board Room at the school rang out with laughter, oooohs and aaaahs, as the teachers conducted experiments that illustrated some of the physical properties of water-surface tension, cohesion, adhesion, capillary action-and groundwater. At the end of the seminar each received a curriculum guide and small stipend, in addition to a wealth of new knowledge they were eager to share with their students.

One experiment involved a small plastic cup, water, and pennies. Having filled the plastic cup with water, teams of three or four teachers each competed to find out how many pennies they could drop into the cup before the water overflowed. The teams recorded their data at the end of the activity and then Ms. Flowers, using the principles of the scientific method of inquiry, demonstrated how to talk about the results and derive conclusions about the cohesion of water and surface tension. One mystery was why one team was able to add 226 pennies to the cup while others could add only 50 to 100. Discussion revealed that the team that added 226 pennies was trying to find out when the water would flow out of the cup, as opposed to releasing one plop of water and then reforming a cohesive surface. (Another explanation suggested was that the team had only filled their plastic cup halfway up with water. A third was that they cheated.) This activity was an excellent example of how the WET classroom activities rely on free or very inexpensive materials that a teacher may already have in the classroom or that children can be asked to bring from home.

The second half of the afternoon's activities were facilitated by Mansel Nelson, who had each team working with a groundwater flow model made of plexiglass sheets and tubes with sand, gravel, and an impermeable plastic material that simulated the composition of the ground and aquifers.

Using the model, a lot of water, and a vacuum pump, the teachers saw how groundwater pumping affects surface water and how pollutants dumped on or into the ground (such as those released in a landfill or by leaking gas station tanks, both problems in the Moencopi area) easily migrate to mix with groundwater that is then pumped for municipal use or released into springs that are used not only for drinking water but for religious and ceremonial purposes. Mr. Nelson's discussion of the experiments included reference to other contemporary water cases and settlements such as the recently-negotiated Gila River Indian Tribe settlement.

Asked about the usefulness of the workshop, Edward Jones, a sixth-grade teacher, said, "My students always enjoy hands-on activities and I know the kids will like these experiments." The WET facilitators encourage other schools to call for information and to set up seminars.

For information, contact Dana Flowers, Associate Coordinator, Water Sustainability Program, Maricopa County, 4341 E. Broadway Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85040; (602) 470-8086, ext. 335; dflowers@ag.arizona.edu.