ESI98 Project Plan

Topic:

Water Resources/ Climate Change

Faculty Mentor:

Jim Miller

Project Team

List of team members.

Description of Research Project:

The focus of this project is on the impact of human activities on water resources and on how the demands on and availability of water might change in the future, in part due to climate change. The emphasis will be on river systems, but may include groundwater resources, too. The project team will develop a generic model of river water resources and then apply it to several specific rivers in different parts of the country. One of the rivers will be the Delaware River basin. The other rivers will be selected to be near where the team members live.

Scientific objective:

To understand how human activities and potential climate change will alter the availability of water resources of rivers systems by doing case studies of several rivers.

Educational objectives:

To introduce team members to the scientific method by completing a specific project. To develop modes of delivery for using the project in teaching at levels from junior high school through college. The modes of delivery will include (a) discussion/seminar, (b) role-playing scenarios, (c) individual research projects, and (d) team research projects. For the team research projects, teams could consist of students from the same school or college or from different institutions.

Outcomes:

Participants will understand the scientific method because they have applied it to a specific problem and will be able to teach their students using techniques and materials developed as part of the project. Participants will understand how climate change might alter the hydrologic cycle and specifically the availability of water for human activities.

Resources Needed:

Most of the work will be done using resources on the Internet and the project itself will develop materials for the Web. Systems modeling software (such as STELLA) would be helpful, but not required. Web-based training support will be essential.

Preparation before the Institute:

All team members will be expected to do a thorough review of the water resource uses of the river system in their region before arriving for the summer program.

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
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