What to Continue
The West Virginia trip was collectively one of the most enjoyed experiences of this course. It was an amazing bonding experience and was something you would not experience in the classroom. In addition to the West Virginia trip, looking for mussels and going to the river was the most fun and educational activities we did.
What to Drop
Overall, we felt that some of the chemical testings we conducted were not necessarily the most accurate accumulative data. For example, we feel like testing for Phosphate, although it is an important aspect of river health, is not necessary given that we consistently get readings of 0, regardless of the river or time of year. The flow rate varies depending on stream location and weather events. Ammonia test numbers are so small that there are no significant differences over the year. As a result, it is difficult to make conclusions when comparing these three variables between these three streams. We advise that this parameter can be deleted from the testing protocol.
What to Add
Although we went to the river once a month, we feel like going to the river more often would better the course in making it more fun and having more opportunities for us to learn. This year we did testing to compare rivers in hopes of potentially re-introducing mussels into new rivers. Since we have done a lot of comparative work with the rivers, we believe actually introducing mussels into new rivers would be a great next step. Also, rotating roles and having a more coordinated approach in the field would enhance our learning and productivity of this course. To broaden our area of study it might also be good to study how fish and other organisms interact with the mussels.