Our primary goal is to train students to understand and solve real-world environmental problems.

Water on the Web (WOW) contains two sets of curricula. Basic Science offers opportunities for high school and first year college students to learn basic science through hands-on science activities, in the lab and in the field, and by working with state-of-the-art technologies accessible through this web site. Water Science offers a two-semester water resource management curriculum for second year technical students or undergraduates in water resource management, water science, or environmental resource management programs.

Basic Science is divided into two major sections – Student and Teacher.

Water Science is divided into 6 major units. Each unit is divided into modules encompassing approximately a week’s worth of lectures and labs.

Lake and stream water quality Data, provided in real-time and archived formats, is obtained through the project's Remote Underwater Sampling Stations (RUSS units) and stream monitoring stations located in Minnesota, as well as from cooperating projects nationwide. GIS maps and an interactive GIS mapping tool help students understand the region being investigated. Descriptions of the lakes and streams being studied, land uses, watershed characteristics, and ancillary data supplement the water quality data.

Data visualization tools (DV Tools) embedded in the web site allow students to watch data change through time, select the dates and water quality parameters they want to observe, and view several parameters simultaneously. The data visualization tools allow them to explore relationships that might be lost to them when working with tables of numbers in spread sheet formats. The data visualization tools and data are both found under the Data portion of the site.

The Understanding section contains a variety of easy to use references or primers to augment the curricula, covering water quality measurements, monitoring equipment, watersheds, lakes, streams, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Excel spreadsheet use.

The Resources section of the web site contains supplementary information such as a glossary, units and conversions, and tutorials.

Teachers of introductory science classes are almost certain to find a WOW lesson to illustrate a basic science concept that is part of their existing curriculum. Water resource science instructors can choose to use the two-semester course in its entirety or infuse portions of the course into their existing curriculum. Please take a few minutes and explore the website.

Here's how to cite Water On the Web.       Here's a list of WOW related awards.

Water on the Web was funded by the National Science Foundation (DUE 9752017 and DUE 0101697) from 1997 to 2005, Water on the Web linked University of Minnesota institutions with private industry, community and tribal groups, as well as high schools, community colleges, technical colleges, and natural resource and regulatory agencies across the nation. A large, diverse team of staff, high school and college curriculum writers, collaborators, and a national advisory committee contribute to this award-wining web site. WOW is now in a 'maintenance mode' - we are no longer actively developing new materials, but we continue to seek opportunities to expand the site to new areas and we welcome collaborators that wish to contribute data or materials to the site.