Through a partnership with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), environmental education materials are available to be loaned out to schools and educational organizations within the Northwest Michigan region via Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA). The Environmental Lending Station provides Michigan educators with a dependable resource to borrow materials that educate students on Great Lakes watersheds through hands-on learning. Currently, ISEA has three EnviroScape models and two water quality testing kits available for lending.
Available Educational Materials
3D EnviroScape® Watershed/Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS)
The EnviroScape® Watershed/NPS education model provides a hands-on, interactive demonstration of the sources and effects of water pollution – and allows you to demonstrate ways to prevent it. Easily demonstrate how stormwater runoff carries pollutants through the watershed to a pond, lake, river, bay, or ocean – and the best management practices to prevent this type of pollution from occurring. The overall watershed/stormwater concept is effectively communicated to all ages (children to adults)!
Key concepts: residential impacts, stormwater and storm drains, forestry, transportation, recreation, agriculture, construction, industrial (factory, treatment plant), sources and prevention practices in demonstrated focus areas.
3D EnviroScape® Coastal Watershed
The EnviroScape® Coastal Watershed education model vividly demonstrates pollution sources and pollution prevention in a coastal area. Explore the 3D Coastal landscape with hands-on activities that bring to life impacts on wetlands, estuaries, oceans, beaches, barrier islands, groundwater, coral reefs, shellfish beds and more. Includes underground storage tanks, storm drains, septic system, effects of an oil spill, dredging a channel… and even a resort community handling its own waste. Model communicates to all ages (children to adults)!
Fill the ocean, harbor, estuary, marina and other waterways with water and rain over the different areas. Watch the flow of rainwater pick up pollutants – such as soil (cocoa) and chemicals (drink mixes), trash, and other contaminants – along the way.
3D EnviroScape® Ecological Restoration
The 3D Interactive EnviroScape® Ecological Restoration® allows you to explore the functions of various wetland types and discover the importance of wetlands to the environmental quality in our communities. At the end of this model, you’ll be able to take a water sample visually experience the improvement in water quality.Two demonstration styles are included in the guide, with the optional story-style demo, explore how wetlands and vegetation function in the natural environment, pollution and flooding after unplanned development, and how ecological restoration benefits the environment.
This model allows you to: Demonstrate how wetland and floodplain management can improve the environment, experiment with restoring the environment to reduce the negative effects of unplanned development, demonstrate the process flooding on the floodplain, restore and construct wetlands to manage stormwater & reduce flooding and pollution. You’ll be able to experiment with unplanned development, demonstrate flooding and pollution, take a water sample and move to restoring, creating, and protecting wetlands right on the model. After restoration, you can take a water sample and let your students compare the results!
H2O Q (Water Quality) Testing Backpack Kit
The H2O Q Testing Backpack Kit includes activities that cover many STEM NGSS categories and integrate categories outside of science to providing in-classroom, robust, and fully implementable program. Environmental science encompasses all STEM disciplines and presents a very real example right outside your classroom window. Experiencing the chemistry of this vast field can equip students with the problem-solving tools to work through the challenges their generation will face in the coming years. The analysis of key markers in the environment (phosphate, nitrate, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity) incorporates numerous chemistry concepts and materials.
Your classroom or organization participating in these community science measurements can save and share their results with the science community and the public. After exploring the chemistries involved in measuring the key water quality parameters and collecting data you can share your results with classrooms (and the public) across the Great Lakes region using the ArcGIS data map.
Questions?
Please contact our Great Lakes Educator Lauren Sheffer at LSheffer@schoolship.org.
FAQs
How do I check out and return materials?
Check Out
Materials can be checked out via the Check Out Form.
Educators may select up to two items to check out at a time. Lending station materials may be picked up from Inland Seas’ Education Center at 100 Dame St #218 Suttons Bay, MI 49682
Returning Materials
Drop-off of materials may be arranged on an as-needed basis within the Traverse City/Suttons Bay area, or returned to ISEA’s offices in Suttons Bay.
What materials are available?
- H2O Q (Water Quality) Testing Backpack Kit x2
- 3D EnviroScape Watershed/Nonpoint Source Pollution
- 3D EnviroScape Coastal Watershed
- 3D EnviroScape Ecological Restoration