Earlier this week I spent a cool, wet morning on the lawn behind Pine Intermediate School in Ohio, where a narrow stream winds through the grass on its way to Lake Erie. STEM teacher Shari Insley had invited me to show her fifth graders how real‑time data can transform abstract water‑quality lessons into something they can see—and feel—they have the power to protect.
We set up buckets filled with creek or tap water and “polluted” them with road salt or wood ash to mimic winter runoff and forest‑fire fallout. Then we went to town with the GaiaXus Water Guardian sensors. Because Ms. Insley had already introduced salinity and turbidity in class, the students jumped right in. Working in teams of four, they took turns setting up the Water Guardians and dunking them into the buckets. With four stations running, everyone had a chance to experiment, watch the numbers climb, interpret what they meant, and jot down results.
Each group “contaminated” its tap‑water bucket with measured pinches of salt while tracking conductivity, quickly realizing how little salt it takes to reach concentrations that harm macroinvertebrates. After the GaiaXus station, students rotated to a table where they identified those same macroinvertebrates and discussed their habitats.
Overall, it was—again—an amazing day. The kids dove into the hands‑on side of STEM, splashing water, crunching data, and connecting everything to their previous lessons. I love visiting this school and can’t wait to come back and work with Shari Insley and her awesome students!
