The Watershed Science course at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Brockport is the capstone course of the Water Resources Program. During spring 2001, course activities centered on developing and using an ArcView 3.2 database for a small watershed in the vicinity of the Village of Brockport in western New York. The key to understanding a watershed's response to a rainstorm is to understand the interaction of a variety of watershed characteristics with the precipitation falling on the watershed. A GIS is ideally suited to help students visualize these interactions. It is this deeper understanding of the subject by means of visualization that is a key educational benefit.

A watershed is an area of land from which all water discharges to a single location. A watershed database, called a watershed inventory, allows the application of predictive tools and management models. With this information, a land use planner is then able to make appropriate decisions, taking into account possibilities of flooding, erosion, nutrient export, and nonpoint source pollution. Analysis of watershed behavior depends on the ability to combine multiattribute data. This capability is a fundamental feature of GIS and is the reason why GIS has become an essential tool for the professional watershed manager today.

The spring 2001 Watershed Science class started the semester by obtaining georeferenced digital orthophotos from the Interactive Mapping Gateway of the New York State GIS Clearinghouse. This data is quite recent and can be obtained for free. Using heads-up digitizing within ArcView, the class was able to develop a very detailed current land use map of the watershed. The digital orthophotos were also used as basemaps for the entire project. The county soil survey was then digitized to determine soil series and soil hydrologic characteristics for the study area. A digital elevation model (DEM) was developed from the Brockport, New York, USGS topographic quadrangle using ArcView and the ArcView Spatial Analyst extension. The class took several field trips to the watershed. Handheld GPS units were used to georeference the important on-site observations. The field data was then used to improve and enhance the watershed inventory. Once the database was complete, the class was able to readily apply various hydrologic and watershed models. Finally, the entire project was published on a CD (including a copy of ArcExplorer for viewing) so that local schools and community groups could have the opportunity to benefit from the class's work.

The use of ArcView improved the students' course experience. They were able to actually run the hydrologic models presented in class using a watershed with which they had become very familiar. They were able to clearly see the interactions between precipitation and watershed characteristics such as soil type, land use, and topography. Many of the students praised the hands-on nature of the course.

Course instructor Dr. James Zollweg points out, "Learning by doing is extremely effective, and the way that watershed science is now done is by GIS." In addition to the academic achievement of greater understanding, the students also acquired an important real-world, job market skill-the application of GIS to watershed management.

Debby Slocum, graduate student in computational science, notes, "GIS has provided a platform within the classroom to allow me to integrate technology, knowledge, and fieldwork for real-world applications." The experience of an integrated water/GIS course served the students better than a compartmentalized GIS course in one department and a water management course in another.

The use of ArcView also facilitated collaborative work. The entire class of 12 was able to seamlessly work together on a single watershed inventory and analysis project. A final measure of success was the number of times the words "fun" and "enjoy" appeared in student course evaluations. "I am gratified that a high-level technical course can still be one that students look forward to each week," Zollweg added.

Some of the students in the class had formal training in GIS, and some did not. One had never even heard of GIS, one had "experienced" ArcView only via the CBS TV show The District, and several had taken the SUNY-Brockport GIS class and were very anxious to put their skills to work. This diversity of backgrounds did not turn out to be a problem at all. The students who were already familiar with ArcView and GIS principles welcomed the opportunity to apply their knowledge to a real-world application. The students who were new to GIS learned quickly because they were working on a project that interested them and because there were experienced mentors in each work group. Several of the new-to-GIS group had such a good experience that they are now motivated to take on a formal course of study in GIS.

"Using ArcView to inventory and analyze a watershed was an educational highlight for the students of the Watershed Science course," says Zollweg. "The experience proved to be motivating, pedagogically effective, and a way to develop a valuable professional skill."

For more information, contact James Zollweg, SUNY Department of the Earth Sciences, Brockport, New York 14420 (tel.: 585-395-2352, e-mail: jzollweg@brockport.edu).