Watershed Dynamics
Developed by the Cornell Environmental Inquiry Program, Watershed Dynamics consists of a student edition and teacher's guide designed to enable high school students to investigate local water and land use issues, including the influence of human actions on the biology, chemistry, and hydrology of rivers and streams.

Watershed Dynamics takes a unique approach to the science of watersheds. Students use physical and computer modeling activities, hands-on engineering design challenges, and traditional field monitoring techniques to investigate watersheds as dynamic systems. Students also learn how to describe and categorize stream habitat integrity using WHEBIP, a remote-sensing protocol developed at Cornell University for use by professional scientists and watershed managers.

Watershed Dynamics is published by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and is available at 1-800-277-5300 or http://store.nsta.org.

Online resources to accompany the books:

• Downloadable EXCEL spreadsheets (for use with Activity 4.1):
  • French Creek data (student version)
  • French Creek data and graphs (teacher version)
• Downloadable STELLA models (These are zip files that you will need to unzip before use. You also will need a copy of the STELLA software installed on your computer before you will be able to run these models):
  • Streamflow Model (for use with Activity 10.1)
    • Troubleshooting Guide for the Streamflow STELLA Model
    • Techical Details
  • Eutrophication Model (for use with Activity 10.2)
    • Troubleshooting Guide for the Eutrophication STELLA Model
• Downloadable Student Worksheets and Peer Review Forms
• Downloadable Assessment Rubrics and Test Questions 
• Background Information and Links
• Input from Teachers

More about Watershed Dynamics (PDF files):

• Intended Learning Outcomes
• Table of Contents for Teacher's Guide
• Table of Contents for Student Edition
• Chapter 1 of the Student Edition: Introduction to Watershed Dynamics
• Example protocol: Collecting Aquatic Invertebrates

Other Ideas for Student Water Quality Experiments (PDF files):

• Acid Rain Experiments
• Eutrophication Experiments
• Diurnal Cycling Experiments

Other books in the Cornell Scientific Inquiry Series
Watershed Dynamics can be used in conjunction with other curricula in the series. For example, students can combine their knowledge and skills of macroinvertebrate sampling and water chemistry with the bioassay protocols featured in Assessing Toxic Risk to investigate the toxicity of water or sediment samples. Using research protocols in Invasion Ecology, students can investigate invasive species in their study watershed. The series is available from the National Science Teachers Association. Click on the book covers below for more information.

Other Environmental Inquiry Publications
Visit our publication page to find out about other curricula, conference papers, videos, websites, and peer-reviewed journal articles that have been developed through the Environmental Inquiry program.