In this unit, students will consider what actions can be taken to reduce human impacts on local streams and improve stream quality. This Advanced Water Quality unit is packaged into three smaller parts: Part 1: Stream Habitat Assessment; Part 2: Macroinvertebrate Analysis, and Part 3: Macroinvertebrate Design Challenge.

The activities and lessons in each part have been developed to build upon one another, but they can also stand alone. Done in conjunction, students will experience analyzing and interpreting the biotic and abiotic factors in streams and designing and testing a macroinvertebrate sampler that mimics their stream’s habitat.