Dusti Eide and Rachel Pankowski
Accommodations are highlighted
Lesson adapted from: “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally” Using the Local Environment to Learn About Global Issues, by Deborah Simmons
Title: Water Pollution
Grade Level: 5/6th
Content Areas: Water use
Learning Target/Goals: Comprehension – students will understand how little water is available for human use by generalizing an in class activity to the earth’s water supply.
EALR’s/GLE: Social Studies 3.1.1a Identify choices individuals have and how they interact with the environment
Assumptions: Students can use a calculator, write in a journal, work in groups, can use an eyedropper properly.
Pre-assessment: Have each student take five minutes to answer the following question on a sheet of paper and turn in the day before this lesson:
How much water do you think is on our planet and how do we get the clean water that we drink, bath with, and wash with? (knowledge)
Lesson:
Day: Day 1
Key Concepts: Water quality,
Objectives: Through examining the amounts of water on Earth, students will demonstrate understanding of the small amount of water available for human use by writing a journal entry about conservation of water. Students will share their dispositions about water pollution.
Rationale: It is important to understand how much water is actually available for human use so you and future generations will not run out of water and have to drink water like that in your dirty bottles.
EALR’s: Social Studies 3.1.1a Identify choices individuals have and how they interact with the environment
Materials Needed: One gallon of water, bottles of dirty water, calculators, colored chalk, four eye droppers, four small containers, four tablespoons
Procedures:
Discrepant Event: Hand out bottles of dirty water to students and tell them this is their water supply for the day. --1 min.
Introduction: How would you feel if this was the only water you had to drink all the time? –2 min.
Activating Prior Knowledge: What is water pollution? (knowledge) Tell me some things that cause water pollution. (fertilizers, pesticides, erosion from poor land use practices, industrial waste, raw sewage and household wastes) – 4-5 min.
Learning Target: Comprehension/reasoning
Learning Activity:
Have agenda written on board with time limits next to them.
1) 71% of the earth’s surface is covered in water. We are going to find out how much of that water is available for human use. –30 sec.
2) Using a map of the earth begin a discussion of how much water is present on earth. Write these on the board and have each line in alternation different colored chalk. Have small pictures next to each word so students who struggle with reading will know what the word is. Show the following statistics: -- 3 min.
Oceans 97.2
Icecaps/glaciers 2.0
Groundwater .62
Freshwater lakes .009
Inland seas/salt lakes .008
Atmosphere .001
All rivers .0001
3) Hand out calculators to students. Ask them to calculate the estimated amount of fresh water potentially available for human use from groundwater, freshwater lakes, rivers, and icecaps/glaciers (answer 2.6291%) be available to help students who struggle with calculator (or pair students up to work on this)– 5 min.
4) Show the students one gallon of water. Tell them how much there is and provide them with the following quantity:
1 gallon = 256 tablespoons (we changed this from five gallons to one gallon – so times everything by five to change it back) --1 min.
Have students guess how much of the gallon could be used for human consumption. Put this amount in a container and set aside until the end of lesson – at which point you will compare it with the actual amount.
5) Have students assume that the gallon represents all the water on earth. Have student calculate the volume of all the quantities on the water percentage list. Do the first problem together to show students how to do the math. Ask if everyone understands and have them turn to a neighbor and explain how to do the problem. Any questions? After a few minutes of work time go over them together as a class. – 10 min.
Oceans 248.83
Icecaps/glaciers 5.12
Groundwater 1.586
Freshwater lakes .055
Inland seas/salt lakes .02
Atmosphere .0064
All rivers .0002
6) Now calculate the volume of freshwater available for human use (approximately 6.8 tablespoons). (make sure that one the board you have specified which of these to calculate for freshwater) Divide students into teams of four and put 6.8 tablespoons of water in a container and take to a place to work. (Pre-determine heterogeneous groups)–2 min.
7) Once in groups, ask students to remove the amount of water represented by all freshwater lakes and rivers (approximately one fiftieth of a tablespoon – a drop). Then ask them to extract the amount represented by rivers (tiny amount – way less than a drop). Discuss the relative proportions with the students. This tiny amount is what all species depend on for survival. –5 min.
8) Discuss what conservation is and ways to conserve and why we want to conserve water. – 5 min.
Closure: Show students the gallon container again and emphasize how tiny of an amount is actually able to be used by us. “How does what we learned today effect you in your daily life?” (application) “What do you think you can do to make sure we have clean water?” (application, analysis) –3 min.
Crystallization: In the following days, students will be mapping water shed, following where the water goes, students will also look at how they use water and what they could do to preserve water and protect it for the future. –1 min.
Post Assessment: Target: application
Students will write a journal entry about the days activity, what they learned about the amount of water on the Earth’s surface, how they feel about it and what they can do to conserve water in their daily lives. (disposition and content knowledge) –5-10 min.