A Working Model of a Stream

by William F. Hammond

Grade levels: 2-5

Subject areas: science, ecology

Key concepts: watershed, riparian zone, runoff, erosion, point-source pollution

Skills: experimenting, observing, predicting, manipulating materials

Location: outdoors or indoors

Is there anything more captivating to children of any age than a stream of running water?  Children will mess about for hours building and breaking dams, changing the direction of the water, making pools, and racing floating leaf boats or sticks. A stream, it seems, tempts the “beaverness” deep in our human spirit. Yet in urban neighborhoods, streams are often converted into conveyances hardened with cement or rock riprap, or even sent underground into systems of culverts that are out of sight and mind of children. With these changes, children lose powerful learning opportunities that come from exploring a local stream in a joyful, experimental manner.