The River Authority Curriculum
The River Authority has many resources for educational needs regarding topics including the San Antonio River, water quality, watersheds and erosion. The River Authority also works closely with partner organizations to extend resources that can fit any classroom’s needs regarding aquatic science topics. All River Authority lessons and resources provided are TEKS-aligned.
Scientific Research
WATCH HOW SCIENTISTS STUDY PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO HELP AN ENDANGERED BIRD
The engaging and STEM-related video (9 minutes) discusses the ways that your students are connected to and impact the 240-mile San Antonio River and the endangered whooping crane that winters near the river’s terminus in San Antonio Bay. The video examines scientific research projects that demonstrate how aquatic and marine biologists use wildlife species in the river and bay as indicators of water quality. Students will learn how their voluntary actions can create a sustainable river resource for not only the wildlife but for everyone’s use into the future.
Virtual Field Trip
LEARN HOW S.T.E.A.M. AT CONFLUENCE PARK PLAYS A ROLE IN PROTECTING THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER
Take a field trip to Confluence Park on the banks of the San Antonio River. You will learn how engineers and architects designed the park to be more like a sponge. Learn why using Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math practices is important to working with our land and not against it to protect the San Antonio River.
Watersheds
BUILD YOUR OWN WATERSHED
Learn how to create a very simple, yet educationally powerful, 3-dimensional watershed model with your students using foil and cups.
TEXAS AQUATIC SCIENCE*: CHAPTER 3 - WHAT IS YOUR WATERSHED ADDRESS?
Appropriate for middle school and high school students, this on-line tool offers an informative video, literature for both students and teachers, rigorous questions and teacher lesson plans.
Water Quality
WATER QUALITY TESTING
In this hands-on activity, students will learn about how abiotic factors, such as pH, temperature, nitrates, and dissolved oxygen, are evaluated to assess water quality. They will also learn how land use and human activity in the watershed will alter these factors.
WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT USING REAL-TIME DATA
Students will use the online and GIS-driven dataset and interactive map, using real data that is collected across the San Antonio River watershed to evaluate how rainfall, and other abiotic factors, relate to the overall health and water quality of the San Antonio River and its tributaries. Appropriate for high school students.
COLLECT AND ASSESS MACROINVERTEBRATES
Whether you go outside to a local creek or pond, or bring samples back to lab, this hands-on lesson asks students to identify the biotic factors, such as larval insects and small aquatic organisms, which can be evaluated to assess water quality.
Bays and Estuaries
WHOOPING CRANE STUDENT ACTIVITIES
The International Crane Foundation offers activity packets for ages preschool through high school, along with select activities in Spanish, for use in your classroom!
WHOOPING CRANE LESSONS
Whooping cranes are an important species of the San Antonio Bay and the estuary ecosystem at the mouth of the San Antonio River. To discover more about this endangered bird species and how humans play a role in their population with educational lessons and activities, visit the International Crane Foundation’s website.
TEXAS AQUATIC SCIENCE*: CHAPTER 11 - BAYS AND ESTUARIES
Appropriate for middle school and high school students, this online tool offers an informative video, literature for both students and teachers, rigorous questions and teacher lesson plans.
ESTUARIES IN THE BALANCE: THE TEXAS COASTAL BEND
A multimedia learning adventure that is an interactive journey following four key species in and near the San Antonio Bay – whooping cranes, blue crabs, oysters, and redfish. You will also investigate how humans can positively and negatively intersect with their fascinating world. Includes educational videos, interactive models, and teacher’s guide.
Volunteerism
The River Authority River Warriors are volunteers that serve as community defenders of the flora and fauna of the waterways. River Warriors give of their time and energy to advance the sustainability of the watershed. Individuals 15 years and older may become one of the River Authority’s volunteers.
You can also volunteer in the Citizen Science Program which is fun and important work for any age, and no experience is necessary! Data collected using the online app iNaturalist on the flora and fauna along the river and around the San Antonio River watershed is important for monitoring the quality of the environment that leads to a healthy river. You can create a project around your campus or even a rain garden. Go to www.iNaturalist.org to learn more, locate San Antonio River projects and take part in this significant, yet simple, data collection.
*Information courtesy of Texas Aquatic Science partners: Texas Parks and Wildlife, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, and the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. More information at www.texasaquaticscience.org.
Nonpoint Source Pollution
STORMWATER RUNOFF AND POLLUTANT TRAVEL THROUGH WATERSHEDS
Use this hands-on activity to model the distribution of pollutants across land and into our creeks and waterways.
TEXAS AQUATIC SCIENCE*: CHAPTER 14 – WATER FOR PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Appropriate for middle school and high school students, this online tool offers an informative video, literature for both students and teachers, rigorous questions and teacher lesson plans.
HELP PROTECT YOUR WATERSHED!
Use these educational posters to showcase how a change in voluntary actions can create a healthier watershed and river. Perhaps have students create their own public service announcements and posters that try to affect positive and informed choices in their community.
Making Informed Decisions and Taking Action
rain gardens
Building a rain garden at your school. Rain gardens are a great way to learn the value of keeping rainwater where it lands, before it can runoff and pick up pollutants on the way to creeks and waterways, as well as beautify your campus and even support pollinators and migratory birds!
Learn about the Water Cycle
If we take care of the water cycle, the water cycle will take care of us! Learn more about the water cycle from the free online curriculum Watt Watchers supported by KLRN.
LEARN ABOUT NATIVE PLANTS AND POLLINATORS
The San Antonio River Authority frequently holds educators professional development. In 2020, in partnership with the Texas Butterfly Ranch and part of the 2020 Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival. Teachers learned about the importance of native plants and the support it provides towards pollinator and bird diversity. Watch the video to virtually take part in this presentation with prize-winning author Dr. Doug Tallamy titled A Guide to Restoring the Little Things that Run the World.
