WRN Teens at UW
Tuesday March 12, 2019
WRN Teens's outing to the Ecology Lab at UW was a success. The members and guests of WRN Teens received a tour of the UW Environment buildings and learned some environmentally-focused possibilities for our futures along the way.
We looked at tooth and beak adaptations and used the information we learned to practise identifying the lab's collections of skulls and stuffed birds, then relocated to Tim Hortons to discuss some options for future WRN activities.
Thanks to the UW Ecology Lab and to the students and workers who hosted us!
Megan
We went to the Ecology Lab to learn about the day's activities.
We took water samples from two places in the nearby Laurel Creek (before and after the reservoir) and snow samples from two different locations on-campus (an empty field and a salted stairway) before analysing them to find the differences in quality.
Some criteria involved: turbidity (murkiness), conductivity (to measure ions like salt in the water) and pH. Surprising fact: the snow from the salted surface had the most salt. We discussed what our findings meant in practice, including the effects of the reservoir on the water quality of the creek.
P.S. THANKS to Megan Sloka, one of our awesome Teens and a grade 10 student, who was our reporter this time. Thanks also to Bev Raimbault, coordinator of the Ecology Lab who organized our visit; to Marco, coop student who led our tour of the faculty; to Michelle Yu and Sarah Cui, lab assistants who led our experiment and data review; to Linda Dutka, WRN Teens volunteer; and to the Teens parents who provided transportation. And finally, a shout-out to "Dean Jean" Andrey, dean of the faculty whom we met in the hall! UW Environment Faculty looks like a fun place to be!
Marg Paré, WRN Teens coordinator