Teaching The Hudson Valley

Bring Real-Time Hudson River Data to Class

Posted by Alene Onion
on September 25, 2010

The Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) is an amazing network recording water quality and weather. Every 15 minutes it feeds conditions LIVE to our website.

Practice using this data in your classroom at a free session -- demonstrations, lesson plans, pizza, and more -- 4-7 p.m., Wed., Oct. 6, Marist College, Poughkeepsie.

Join me, the HRECOS coordinator; Cornelia Harris, education program specialist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; and Steve Stanne, interpretive specialist, Hudson River Estuary Program, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation.

[For a certificate from the Mid-Hudson Teachers Center, register online by Thurs., Sept. 30. If you don't need a certificate, you may register at HRECOS.]

Travel to the River remotely. Experience this beautiful, local resource. Explore biological and physical concepts -- photosynthesis, respiration, sea level rise, impacts of acid rain, and gas solubility -- all using HRECOS data.

After a brief introduction to tools and resources, we will break into two groups -- grades 5-8 and high school. Each group will explore lesson plans and more with the guidance of the HRECOS education team.

In addition to learning about our fixed monitoring stations, you'll be introduced to HRECOS's first mobile water quality monitoring station aboard the Clearwater. Track the sloop as it travels from NY Harbor to Albany recording ecological conditions, e.g., the salt front and turbidity, conditions that play a major role in determining species distributions.

Learn strategies to enhance field experiences. If your students are lucky enough to get their hands wet in the Hudson River -- or a tributary -- use HRECOS data the day before. Predict what you will see and measure. Will the tide be rising or falling? What about dissolved oxygen? Where do we expect turbidity measurements to fall? Learn to prepare and execute these pre-trip activities introducing students to measurements they'll collect.

Use HRECOS data after a trip to help students contextualize data. Many chemical parameters fluctuate on daily, monthly, or annual cycles. Using our data, students can compare their measurements within these cycles to better understand the River's rich and dynamic system.

Finally, you'll learn about A Day in the Life of the Hudson River, an annual event (Thurs., Oct. 14, this year) that brings over 3,000 students and others to the banks of the estuary to take snapshots and measure many of the same parameters HRECOS monitors.

I hope to see you Wed., Oct. 6, 4-7 p.m., Donnelly Hall, #101, Marist College, Poughkeepsie. A pizza supper will be provided. If you need a certificate from the Mid-Hudson Teachers Center, register online by Thurs., Sept. 30. If you don't need a certificate, you may register at HRECOS.

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