Month: February 2026

This is important to the St. Louis area because it is located on a flood plain. Not only is this area on a flood plain, but it also has a heavily industrial background. The pipes that are underground are deteriorating over time and are not sustainable during heavy rains. Areas in Illinois like Centreville, Cahokia Heights, and East St. Louis struggle with sewage flooding into their yards. The Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) at SIUE partnered with HeartLands Conservancy and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition, and Innovation Center to look deeper into this issue. We are six students from this organization that works with after-school kids at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee (JJK) Academy in East St. Louis. 

After completing intensive research surrounding this wicked problem and truly immersing ourselves in it, we raise this question: Do elementary-age children who receive water conservation education apply water conservation practices at home? We expect the children who receive water conservation education do apply these practices in their homes, and the children who do not receive it, do not apply these practices in their homes. This is relevant to us because we have been working with JJK Academy to implement water conservation in their curriculum. One of our group members, Payton, is working on a water fair toolkit so that other communities can host their own water fair. Another member, Tamiria, is working on interviewing local organizations to get their feedback on water conservation education in the St. Louis region. We are curious about this topic because of the communities we see struggling around us.

We, as young adults, and our exposure to learning about water infrastructure in CODES opened our eyes to further look into what it is and all the different areas that connect to it, as water conservation. That’s how our curiosity started growing into our education area, of why we didn’t have class or a curriculum that taught us how to build environmental and sustainable habits around water conservation. 

So we started researching and trying to prove that there are many benefits to having a water conservation class, lessons, or curriculum that can change our future by fighting back against climate change and water insecurity in our towns, states, and country. 

My name is Sonia Sheryr, and I created my lesson plan called Runoff with Water Knowledge.  I plan on researching secondary sources regarding rain gardens, pollutants, and other obstructions, and runoff water. I will include more evidence in my lesson plan and tailor it efficiently for my specific target audience to help convey the importance of runoff water in water conservation.  It is also important to put into perspective how this one lesson plan can help picture the water cycle and runoff while understanding its functions and roles.

1. What is your story 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is located just minutes from the Mississippi River. This area has struggled with flooding issues due to outdated industrial pipes and poor drainage systems. This has even caused sewer issues in places near Cahokia Heights, Illinois. We are students in the Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars Program (CODES) here at SIUE. Our goal of water conservation education is to aid in after-school program development at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Academy. We want to implement more interactive activities for elementary-age children to increase water conservation knowledge and community awareness. 

2. What did you achieve 

The Water Fair was something our group had meticulously created over the course of our 2 years in this program. our current assignment on water conservation, including educating children on its importance and how it plays into everyday life. The Water Fair itself was a way for said children to interact with our projects. As a collective, we were able to provide JJKFAN with a multitude of interactive lessons regarding water conservation. With that being said, this implementation allowed for students to take away practices that they can utilize in everyday life. Ultimately, the Water Fair helped identify the need for more water conservation efforts while exposing students to conservation practices that are applicable to the real world. 

3. What it means to a broader audience 

This blog will serve as an educational resource for teachers to inform students on water conservation. The blog will promote awareness and encourage healthier impacts towards water conservation education. Overall, this leads to a positive environmental change.

I want my work to reach teachers at the middle school and high school level, specifically grades K-5th. My goal is to provide these educators with my water fair tool kit so they can teach their students the importance of water conservation, which is a crucial piece of knowledge that not many people are properly educated on. Many adults do not even fully understand concepts such as water runoff, which has led to less concern for water conservation in our society. These lessons can be taken beyond the classroom and used to help promote more environmentally friendly practices in the future. However, it is important to acknowledge the stakeholders that can have a major impact on the implementation of these lesson plans. First of all, the students in this age range are going to be the primary stakeholders. Other stakeholders could include local schools and the educators within them.

While it may seem like the teachers have the most important role in this process, it is actually the students who will carry out the true intent of my product. The job of the educators will be to use this information to properly teach their students about water conservation, using the tool kit provided to educate them in a way that fosters a long term understanding instead of a short term memory. But the full intention of my water fair tool kit is not just to educate students about water equity, but to give them skills that they can carry into the future. It will be up to them to use what they have learned to make a difference in the world one day. Of course, one lesson alone will not be enough for a child to grow an interest in water conservation overnight, especially at a young age. However, as lessons like mine become more widespread, they can allow the students’ curiosity to drive them in the pursuit of further information on this topic, paving the road for adults who are truly knowledgeable on the effects of issues such as water runoff or pollution.

1. What is the purpose of your work- both the group project and individual products? What is the format of the groups? What individual products does this project consist of, and in what forms( maps, podcasts, video, reports, etc)

• Purpose of our work

The purpose of our work is to educate youth students regarding water conservation and how it relates to the water cycle. Our individual products play a role in each of us contributing to a lesson in the water fair, surveys, and the toolkit. Each of our products and contributions help us achieve our overarching goal.

2. Who is the project made for? Describe the relevant stakeholders and what they might need to best understand/or use the different elements of this project 

The target audience for our project is 5-12th grade students with an emphasis on educating kids on water conservation and better water habits. The youth of today is one of the most important stakeholders in society and has a huge impact on the environment. To best understand our project teachers should read the water fair tool kit, which gives you access to different water conservation lesson plans and other water fair important tips.

Other stakeholders that could utilize our research and products are local schools, educators, our partners, and especially after school programs without specific curriculum criteria. 

3. Why is it important for your work to be shared? What value does it bring to the communities/stakeholders it serves.

It is important for our work to be shared because it can 

4. What ethical considerations are important to think about when planning to disseminate your work? How will you ensure these ethical considerations are integrated into the dissemination plan? 

It can be said that respect, equity, and integrity are imperative ethics to consider as they relate to the work we plan to conduct.

As I go over my water fair lesson plan from last semester, while revising my work, I plan on focussing on the clarity of my lesson plan and having a further detailed procedure. I want to add pictures on my lesson plan from when I did the experiment, and have captions underneath each picture. My main idea is explaining the background information that consists of the importance of the experiment, and the overarching statement. My background information where I will state the environmental impacts of rain gardens and how different pollutants can affect the water cycle.

To bolster my research, I plan on researching secondary sources regarding rain gardens, pollutants and other obstructions, and runoff water. I remember while researching I found several YouTube videos regarding these topics that were very helpful when I was compiling my research. In addition to these videos, I will also look into articles regarding runoff water and its benefits and its contributions to the water cycle as a whole. It is also important to put into perspective how this one lesson plan can help picture the water cycle and runoff while understanding its functions and roles. Therefore I will research these ideas and include them in my plan to strengthen the overarching idea.

My main audience is elementary and middle school teachers who are looking to incorporate water conservation into their classrooms with my lesson plan. Which is why I will add visuals and include a detailed step by step procedure which is easy to follow and understand.

By revising my work I will include more evidence in my lesson plan and tailor it efficiently for my specific target audience to help convey the importance of runoff water in water conservation.