Virtual lessons

(Virtual content is coming soon)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city and Bluegrass Greensource worked together to create virtual lessons and demonstrations. Pre and post assessments and other supplementary materials are available for many of these videos.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Composting Presentation 
Students discover the benefits of composting and how to reduce landfill-bound waste. Students will learn how to set up a vermicomposting bin and how worms are “nature’s recyclers.”

I Made Some Money
Students experience the journey of aluminum can after it has been recycled.  Students learn how recycling creates jobs and the importance of buying products made of recycled materials to “close the loop.”

Landfill EnviroScape
This EnviroScape model demonstrates how a modern landfill is set up and functions. While comparing modern landfills to old style dumps, students discover the ways environmental regulations and best management practices protect our groundwater and minimize air pollution.

MRF Tour Video    
Students watch a tour of the MRF to learn about how recycling is processed in Lexington. 

Paper Pots   
Students learn to make biodegradable paper pots by reusing old newspaper and toilet paper tubes. This lesson introduces students to ideas about reusing waste and composting.

SANITARY SEWERS

Cooking Oil and Grease Demonstration
In this activity, the educator cooks fatty meat to demonstrate how to clean up after creating grease. After the demonstration, students see what happens when you pour fats, oils, and grease into a container with water. Over time, the cooking oils and grease converge together to create a clump. Students learn about how fatbergs have caused problems for cities around the world and how to best avoid the problem.

Shake It
In this lesson, students observe containers holding paper products that are commonly flushed. Some tubes will have single or double ply toilet paper while others will have “flushable” wipes, paper towels, or other material often mistaken as flushable. Observing a flushing simulation, students draw conclusions about which products are safe to put down a drain. 

Wastewater Treatment Center Video Tour
Students travel virtually through one of the Lexington wastewater treatment centers to learn how the city’s spent water is treated and released back into the local watershed. 

Water Treatment EnviroScape
The water treatment EnviroScape model demonstrates water and wastewater treatments. The model shows where drinking water comes from and how it is delivered, what happens to water after it has been used and goes down the pipes, and how stormwater can carry pollution to local streams. 

STORMWATER QUALITY

Macroinvertebrate ID    
Students learn how benthic macroinvertebrates are indicators of water quality.  Students use a dichotomous key to identify macroinvertebrates and sort them according to their ability to withstand polluted water conditions. 

Silt, a Dirty Word
Students observe the effects of changes to a stream and its water flow when silt and/or sand are added to the system. How might the life in the water be affected by these changes? 

Stream Table    
Students learn about the flow of water in a stream and how runoff changes according to the amount of rain.  The stream table shows how the land around the stream can be altered during flood events.  Students can also see how erosion makes a stream more turbid. 

Water Quality Testing
In this lesson, students will learn to test for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and nitrate levels in water.  Students discover how these factors affect the ability of animals to rely on local waterways and how our actions can harm or protect stream health.

Watershed EnviroScape    
Using the EnviroScape model, students learn about watersheds and point/nonpoint source pollution. Students observe the ways litter, oil, pesticides, animal wastes and other items move through the watershed when it rains. 

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