Project on Water Quality was presented as a service-learning experience

On December 12, the students of Centro Educativo Salesianos Talca (CEST), Chile - Elías Maureira, Matías Abaca and Renato López, together with the biology and science teacher, Nicolás Ulloa Ravello, presented the project “Analysis of Water Quality in Nearby Rivers or Bodies of Water” at the exhibition of educational innovation experiences, associated with service learning in the protagonists of change model, within the framework of care for the Environment, at the Enrique Maldonado Sepúlveda Higher Institute of Commerce, organized by the Innovation Network for the Professional Technical Educational Transformation of the MINEDUC.

 The students of the Salesianos Talca Educational Center, advised by their teacher Nicolás Ulloa Ravello, carried out exhaustive research on the quality of water in rivers and bodies of water near the city of Talca, Colbún and San Clemente. This involved taking samples from various water sources, including rivers, springs, canals, groundwater, rain, and bodies of stagnant water. They grew microorganisms from these samples and finally analyzed the nutrient levels, focusing mainly on nitrogen and phosphate levels. The findings are presented in paper format, offering a complete view of water quality in the region.

 This meeting had the purpose of strengthening service learning experiences, which is an educational proposal that combines learning processes and community service in a single well-articulated project, in which participants are trained by getting involved in real needs in the environment. in order to improve it. And in this context, the challenge of the CEST Water Analysis Project is to look for adequate and sustainable sources of financing to guarantee the continuity and success of the project and, therefore, achieve improvement for the sectors where the project was carried out. study, and thus continue to intertwine science and environmental care.

 They presented this entire project in this innovative exhibition of experiences, along with the other participating high schools: Liceo Federico Albert Faupp de Chanco; Nuevo Horizonte High School of Curicó; INITEC School of Curicó; Ireneo Badilla Polytechnic High School in Linares; Higher Industrial High School of Talca and Salesian Educational Center of Talca.