April 28, 2007

Special to the Wallace State Web site. Reprinted with permission from
The Cullman Times.

Students given a liquids lesson: Pupils think about what they drink at
Water Festival

By Evan Belanger
The Cullman Times

Local fourth graders used gummy bears, ice cream and soda to learn the
importance of maintaining clean water supplies Friday.

Students from all over the county and city were participating in the
annual Cullman County Water Festival at Wallace State Community College.

Sponsored by city and county water systems, the program is designed to
teach the students how to care for their water supply, what contaminants
could go into their water and how to get them out.

During the festival, the students took part in several hands-on
activities to show what processes water goes through before they drink
it.

Under the direction of Wendy Bray with the Cullman Water Treatment
Plant, Good Hope Elementary students made mock aquifers during the day
of learning.

Using gummy bears to represent bed rock, Sierra Mist to represent water
and ice cream with chocolate sprinkles to represent clay, sand and top
soil, they created their own aquifers.

"Before we have fun and eat this aquifer," said Bray. "We need to do the
hard stuff and learn what an aquifer actually is."

Bray explained to the students an aquifer is an underground layer of
water-bearing rock and other materials, from which water can be
extracted via a well.

To complete their simulation, the students added colored sprinkles to
represent pollutants that might make their way into an aquifer and
competed to see who could eat their aquifer the fastest.

That honor went to fourth-grade teacher Ashley White.

"It's not bad, tastes like gummy bears," she said.

According to White, the water festival is a good opportunity for
students to learn since all of the projects are "hands-on."

"They always learn more when they're having fun," she said.

The presentations had a dramatic impact on at least one student.
Ten-year-old Alivia Simms said she will definitely be more careful to
ensure she does not contribute to the pollution of water supplies.

While the aquifer experiment was her favorite, she still said it was
"tasted nasty."

  Kristen Holmes
  Director, Communications and Marketing
  Wallace State Community College
  P.O. Box 2000
  Hanceville, AL 35077
  256/352-8118
  E-mail: Kristen.Holmes@WallaceState.edu