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| Students use sponges, filters, and spoons to "clean and treat" water |
Objective: Students will built upon their knowledge of water and the water cycle, examining how we use, clean, and impact water.
Materials: cups (6), food coloring, sponges, filters, spoons, rocks, dirt, oatmeal, soap, Bill Nye Water Cycle DVD, Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, microwave, plastic bag, towel, water glass
Today we....
-read Magic School Bus at the Waterworks
-conducted a water cycle demonstration using a plastic bag, water, and the microwave
-calculated our water use over the course of three school days
-brainstormed ways to reduce use and save water
-discussed the amount of fresh water on earth
-practiced cleaning and treating water
-tested ourselves using a Bill Nye Water Cycle DVD video quiz
We have a two new students at Holden school--students who were students here last year who unexpectedly returned to our tiny community and our little public school--a 6th grader and a 9th grade. So today M & M and I had a third student in our science class: K.
We started class by reading Magic School Bus at the Waterworks out loud. Magic School Bus is a favorite for our little group--the combination of science and weirdness, whimsy and antics appeals to all of us. It also set up the rest of the day nicely, linking the water cycle to water usage and water treatment.
We then tried an experiment I learned about on the Bill Nye Water Cycle DVD bonus materials. We put three spoonfuls of water in a plastic bag and placed it on a hot pad in the microwave. Next to the plastic bag we placed a glass of water to help absorb the heat. Next we put the microwave on HIGH for a minute. When we opened the door, the bag had ballooned up with water vapor, demonstrating the process of evaporation. The kids thought it was cool.
We then filled a mason jar with a gallon of water, timing how long it took (20 seconds) to fill the jar--we used that information and a table I found online to translate the tally marks we'd been keeping to track our water into gallons. We used calculators, multiplied, and added and figured our tiny student body (2 students) had used 267 gallons of water in 2.5 school days. We brainstormed ways to conserve water which I typed up to add to a water use display we'd been working on.
When I worked as a naturalist I used to teach a sustainability class that focused on water. For this class, I would fill up a gallon jug representing all the water in the world. I would ask my students to guess how much of the world's water is fresh water. The answer is around 2% but students usually guess much higher. I would pour part of the gallon milk jug into the milk cap to represent the 2% and we would talk about how much of that 2% is unusable because it's polluted, in the water cycle, or in glaciers, leaving us with 1% of all the world's water to share with all the people, plants, and animals on the planet . I did this activity with M and M and K today. After we'd established the limitations on the world's freshwater we talked about how we use water and what "stuff" gets in the drinking water because of it. I gave them each a cup of water. We poured oatmeal (representing food waste), dirt (representing human waste), soap (representing detergents), and food coloring (representing pesticides and chemicals) into their cups. They worked with sponges, filters, and spoons to remove as much waste as possible. We talked about what was easy to remove (food waste) and what was more difficult to remove (chemicals) and discussed the challenges of keeping a clean and usable water supply.
We finished our class with a water cycle quiz from the Bill Nye Water Cycle DVD extra features. M and M and K worked together on the quiz. What I love most about this particular quiz is that whenever students answer a question wrong the CD shows a video clip of Bill Nye doing an experiment or demonstration that should help them get the right answer. Students are then given another chance to answer correctly. It's perfect for our purposes of reinforcing learning while still instilling a spirit of curiosity and exploration.
Washington State Content Areas Covered:
EARL 1: System
Big Idea: Systems
Core Content: Role of Each Part in a System
Students know that:
-A system is a group of interacting parts that form a whole. Give examples of simple living and physical systems (e.g., a whole animal or plant, a car, a doll, a table and chair set).
-A whole object, plant, or animal may not continue to function the same way if some of its parts are missing. Predict what may happen to an object, plant, or animal if one or more of its parts are removed (e.g., a tricycle cannot be ridden if its wheels are removed).*
-A whole object, plant, or animal can do things that none of its parts can do by themselves.
-Some objects need to have their parts connected in a certain way if they are to function as a whole.
-Similar parts may play different roles in different objects, plants, or animals.
Students are expected to:
-Explain how the parts of a system depend on one another for the system to function.
-Contrast the function of a whole object, plant, or animal with the function of one of its parts (e.g., an airplane can fly, but wings and propeller alone cannot; plants can grow, but stems and flowers alone cannot).
-Explain why the parts in a system need to be connected in a specific way for the system to function as a whole (e.g., batteries must be inserted correctly in a flashlight if it is to produce light). -Identify ways that similar parts can play different roles in different systems (e.g., birds may use their beaks to crack seeds while other birds use their beaks to catch fish).
EALR 2: Inquiry
Big Idea: InquiryCore Content: Conducting Investigations
Students know that:
-2-3 INQA Question: Scientific investigations are designed to gain knowledge about the natural world.
-2-3 INQB Investigate: A scientific investigation may include making and following a plan to accurately observe and describe objects, events, and organisms; make and record measurements, and predict outcomes.
-2-3 INQD Investigate: Simple instruments, such as magnifiers, thermometers, and rulers provide more information than scientists can obtain using only their unaided senses.
Students are expected to:
• Explain how observations can lead to new knowledge and new questions about the natural world.
• Work with other students to make and follow a plan to carry out a scientific investigation. Actions may include accurately observing and describing objects, events, and organisms; measuring and recording data; and predicting outcomes.
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