A 'watershed' day for WJJMS students

Will spent 10 days building his watershed model by himself. Photos by Kevin Hotary.

A watershed is defined as an area of land where all of the water on and below it drains to the same area. Common sites of human settlement, there are more than 2,000 watersheds in the United States. While watersheds are undeniably critical for our survival, they are not generally the most exciting things to study, if you’re a sixth-grader.

Unless, of course, you happen to be a sixth-grader at William J. Johnston Middle School in a science class taught by Les Kershnar or Cynthia Riordan. Last Friday, Jan. 13, Kershnar and Riordan hosted Watershed Day, in which students displayed working watershed models that they had spent the last two months designing and constructing.

“I am so impressed. The excitement and the enthusiasm of the kids are special,” said Riordan.  This was Riordan’s first year doing Watershed Day with sixth-graders, although she had done a similar program several years ago with eighth-graders. 

The point of Watershed Day is to teach students “how water really works; Where water comes from to where it ends up,” said Kershnar, who has been doing the project with sixth-graders for about six years. The projects started with discussions and sketches about two months ago. Then, “we talk about it a lot, see if [the students plan] makes sense or if it doesn’t make sense,” said Kershnar, who said he keeps his input to a minimum, forcing students to try and solve their own problems and come up with their own designs.

“I want it to come from them,” he said, “otherwise it turns into a parroting situation,” which he explained as students just doing what he suggests, and with many of the models looking very similar.

Students are encouraged to use scavenged and recycled material in constructing their models, which must emulate the function of a watershed, with water flowing from higher ground through tributaries to a common collecting area – a lake or the ocean. With projects ranging from shoe box size to several feet long, students found ingenious ways to recapitulate nature. 

For mountains, Sarah used cut-up water bottles that “were just sitting there in my garage,” she said, while Justin and his partner Brennan used a cordless drill to pump water from a collecting pool up the mountain, where it could flow back down.  And some projects were made from once-edible materials. 

Using anything he could find “to make it look realistic,” Joseph said that “the snow on the trees is [sugar] from a jelly doughnut.”  Another student, Maddy, constructed her model entirely out of Rice Krispie treats coated with fondant.

Rice Krispie treats make realistic soil because “they are bumpy and easy to work with,” said Maddy, adding that she doesn’t believe it is edible, as “it’s probably stale.” 

Animals were also popular additions to many of the models. “We like animals,” said Julia of her group's large and complex model, which was built mostly of spray foam.  She and her partners, Hannah and Gillian, met four times in building the model, each a marathon two-day building session. “We slept over,” said Gillian. 

“That [using additions like plastic animals] adds to the fun. If you can’t have fun with it, it’s not worth doing,” said Riordan.