Stream Survey and Macroinvertebrate Identification with Harwood Union Middle School


Vermont EPSCoR CWDD's Janel Roberge, Education and Outreach Coordinator, and LeeAnn Trusela, Project Manager, led roughly 40 seventh-grade students at Harwood Union Middle School in Duxbury, VT through water quality and site assessment and macroinvertebrate sampling at the school's Lozelle Brook on October 22, 2019. Under the CWDD's guidance, students made observations about the stream sites near their school and collected macroinvertebrates for later identification.

The visit was part of a multi-part project. On October 25, 2019, students practiced using microscopes while identifying the macroinvertebrates they had previously sampled. This information would go one to inform a lab report concerning the health of the Lozelle Brook. This follow-up represented the first lab report that the students got to write.

A Harwood Union Middle School student tries on CWDD-provided waders.

Harwood Union Middle School students pair up to take macroinvertebrate samples at a stream near their school.

Harwood Union Middle Schoolers use microscopes to identify benthic macroinvertebrate samples.

Janel Roberge discusses the importance of benthic macroinvertebrate sampling.

LeeAnn Trusela helps identify the macroinvertebrate samples they retrieved.