Teacher Greg Booth shows the dissolved oxygen level information on the Palm PDA to several students. The purpose of this six week study is to learn more about the life cycle of the salmon, to check whether the Palm Pilot is an effective tool for taking measurements and to see if salmon can pass through the new bridge to reach their spawning ground. The final product will be a ten minute digital video segment and a Power Point presentation that will document this season's salmon run.

Quest Elementary students combine technology with nature to study Salmon run

Reach students from Quest’s gifted and talented program have put together an intensive documentary of this year's salmon run that takes place annually in Salmon Creek which flows through the village of Hilton and behind Quest Elementary.

Every year, hundreds of Chinook and Coho salmon return to Salmon Creek to spawn. Salmon Creek is a small stream that winds its way through the towns of Ogden and Parma and eventually flows into Braddock Bay. The students at Quest have been cleaning the creek bottom and the banks of this stream, testing the water for pollutants and collecting various other forms of data from this stream for many years. The arrival of these large fish every fall is a big event which is anticipated.

During the summer of 2003, a new bridge was built on village owned property directly behind Quest elementary and the students wanted to see what kind of impact it would have on the annual fall salmon run. The students did not think the salmon would be able to make it past the new bridge because there was not enough water flowing through it to allow for these large fish to swim through and return to their destination. With all of the questions about the new bridge and the potential problems it may cause to the salmon run, students and teachers decided to document this year's run to learn more about it and to see what kind of impact the new bridge would have.

Students documented the numbers of salmon observed daily and also collected data on the stream conditions using innovative technology. Students have also been using Palm handheld computers to test the streams pH (acidity or alkalinity), D.O. (dissolved oxygen) and its daily temperature fluctuations.

The students are currently in the process of using all of the video footage, photographs they have collected and the various forms of data collected to create a video documentary. The hope is that the information and footage collected can be used in future years to predict the arrival date of the salmon in years to come. Now known are the water temperature, pH, and the dissolved oxygen level when the first salmon arrived. Students also plan to use this documentary to educate their classmates on this phenomenon that is taking place right in their backyard. The students at Quest are combining computer technology with the wonders of nature in hopes to develop a better understanding of one of the more unique life cycles in the living world.