How to Create a Pond Life Unit Study

Pond life unit studies focus our children's attention on being stewards of the earth rather than pillagers of it. Pond animals are the canaries of the entire world. When unknown causes reduce their numbers, we need to ask ourselves why and do whatever we can to remedy the problem. Poor water quality and the shortage of safe drinking water are a worldwide crisis, leading to disease, death and even war. By studying pond life, we can prevent pollution and reverse desertification and global warming.

Things You'll Need

• Microscope
• Slides
• Eye dropper
• Minnow net
• 5 gallon white plastic bucket
• Several clear plastic jars with screw-on lids
• Field guides
• Books with a pond life theme or pond creature characters

Instructions

1. Choose a pond to study. This might be one in a nearby park, or you can build a mini pond in your own backyard. You can even use a virtual pond for an online study of pond life.

2. Take water samples from more than one part of the pond. Make a slide from each sample and look at it under a microscope. Use a field guide or science text to help you identify the creatures you find. Tips for making wet mount slides and using microscopes are found at the end of this article. Make sketches of each of the creatures in your water sample. Label the parts of each. Calculate how many of the creatures inhabit the volume of your pond, based on their numbers in your sample.

3. Record the water level of your pond over time, in the morning, evening, before and after rainstorms, and through all four seasons. Make a graph with your data. Take new water samples each time you record the water level. How has the population of microscopic organisms changed as the water level rises or falls? Allow at least one of your samples to settle for a few hours. What layers do you see? Use the minnow net and 5 gallon white plastic bucket to capture and study creatures from your pond. Be sure to return them to the pond within an hour or less.

4. Photograph the plants and animals surrounding and using your pond. Which are producers? Which are consumers? Which are scavengers? Note whether or not your pond appears to be in or out of balance. Signs of lack of balance would be stagnant, smelly water, algae bloom, dead fish or animals at the water's edge, browning of plants or a sharp change in water level.

5. Join a 4-H group and take your project results to a project judging. Enter your results in your county fair as well. Get the word out about the conditions you find in your pond. Network with your local Soil and Water Conservation District or your city health department to compare their data to your findings.

6. Shadow someone working in the Soil and Water Conservation field. Ask them what prompted them to spend their lives studying water quality issues. Volunteer. Build your resume' as a water quality activist.

Tips & Warnings

• The following books are a good start for a pond unit:

• 1976 Caldecott Award winner - Leo and Diane Dillon. "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale"

• 1956 Caldecott Award Winner- Feodor Rojankovsky. "Frog Went A-Courtin'"

• 1959 Newberrry Award winner- Elizabeth George Speare. "The Witch of Blackbird Pond"

• Grahame, Kenneth. "Wind in the Willows"

• Doreen Cronin. "Duck for President"

• Leo Lionni. "It's Mine"

• Toni Buzzeo. "Little Loon and Papa"

• Turner, Ann Warren. "Learning To Swim: A Memoir"

• Lobel, Arnold. "Frog and Toad series"

• Anne Turner (1997) "Mississippi Mud: Three Prairie Journals"

• Lee J. Ames. "Draw 50 Animals"

• LeSieg, Theo. "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet"

• Fuller, Iola. "The Loon Feather." (18th century Mackinac Island)

• Be sure to get the land owner's permission before studying a pond on private property.

Resources

• Pond life resources
• Design and build a pond/explore a virtual pond
• Pond math and science
• Build a backyard waterfall mini pond
• Field Guides