Researching chemicals

One of the fun things the Water Library gets to do is participate in outreach and today was a great treat. The UW Madison offers the PEOPLE program - the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence and young women enrolled in the program and interested in STEM fields visited Steenbock Library to learn how to use library resources to research a chemical. A recent contamination event of the chemical tetrachloroethylene near Madison presented the young researchers with the opportunity of learn about hazardous chemicals, accidental spills and how researchers find information that credible, accurate, relevant to help make decision on how to proceed. Here are some of the tools the students used:

• Research Guide for the students
• Wikipedia article on tetrachloroethylene
• Fact Sheet from Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services
• Tox Town, National Library of Medicine

Summer time and it's time to read!

The graphic a right is the start of a very fun planning flowchart on how to choose your summer reading list. Click on the image to see its (impressive) full size but be warned! It might take you half the month of July to go through all the steps!

The Water Library also has some other ideas for you to try, including some great water-related titles:

• Try reading some water-related (and Great Lakes) fiction. Our recommended reading list shows just some of the great finds.
  
  
• Follow #UWSummerReads on Twitter.Librarians from across UW Madison campus will be tweeting some great suggestions.
  
  
• Madison Public Library has a great list of lists for hot summer reading.
  
  
• Do you have children in the house, bored and looking for something to do? The Water Library has recommended reading list for Beach combing, Water exploration, and much more.
  

Whatever it takes, pick up a book and head to the water!
Happy reading!!

New Drinking Water Teaching Tools

A collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has produced new instructional materials to assist teachers who seek to enhance the consciousness of their high school students about where their drinking water comes from, and how sources of drinking water can be protected.

Their press release continues, "The curriculum's “hands-on” learning activities, which are related to topics such as water characteristics and contaminants, water regulations, drainage, and reducing the flow of nutrients into groundwater and surface water, will enliven the educational experience for students and teachers."

This FFA curriculum development project, funded by EPA and USDA, included a large team of drinking water experts from EPA and USDA as well an instructional design team that included FFA staff, Elaine Andrews and Kate Reilly, UW Environmental Resource Center, and Dolly Ledin and Sarah Wright, UW Institute for Biology Education.

To learn more about these teaching tools, visit their website.