We all met at the Lincoln Water System Plant in Ashland, NE and introduced ourselves to each other, as we would be together for the next five days. We then received a guided tour of the plant and got to see all the ins and outs of making our water safe to drink. We were impressed by the details of the system and technology involved, not to mention the miles of pipeline linking the plant to Lincoln and the vicinity.

One of the highlights was the mini-plant. This model enables scientists and technicians to run various tests, which allows them to constantly update the systems in order to run a state of the art water treatment plant.

The tour we received would be beneficial to middle and high school aged students who are studying the ground water to drinking water process. We wouldn't recommend the tour for elementary aged children unless it was brought to their level. There are many pamphlets available for free, including a comic book that goes through the process at the elementary level.

Sensing We started our adventure at Mahoney State Park with a study of various maps. We did activities using topographic, vegetation, geologic units. This a good review of using and interpreting different kinds of maps that required a higher level of thinking. Depending on a teacher's access to various types of maps, this would a great student lesson for any age.

Next, the "tool of the trip" was introduced to us! The use of a GPS, Global Positioning System, was explained and tested. We were off-dropped off at various locations in the park, including the top of the tower, to find our locations and elevations. We used this information to find where we were on a topo map. This was fun!!

Again, a great activity for any age student if you have access to the equipment. From this point on, we checked latitude, longitude and elevation at every stop we made throughout the trip.

Day | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Return to Travel Nebraska Main Page