This activity is a classroom quick lab where students explore sand, soil, and water in relation to absorption and permeability.
This activity is a interdisciplinary field investigation where students will form observations and make calculations about stream characteristics and stream flow.
This is a field investigation where students will gather data about the South Crow River using techniques of their own design and develop a group (multimedia) presentation for class presentation.
This activity is an outdoor lab in which students investigate the process of evaporation, record their findings, and use the data to make connections to the environment around them.
In this science activity, students investigate the water cycle by testing the water evaporated from leaves (transpiration) in a field experience. Students use elements of this information to track the water cycle through it's various stages.
In this activity students collect snow in a cup, predict how much water will be in the cup when the snow melts. Students are exposed to evaporation as the water "disappears" over time and try to stop this from happening.
Through multi-trial experiments, students are able to see and measure something that is otherwise invisible to them seeing plants breathe. Student groups are given two small plants of native species and materials to enclose them after watering with colored water. After being enclosed for 5, 10 and 15 minutes, teams collect and measure the condensed water from the plants' "breathing," and then calculate the rates at which the plants breathe. A plant's breath is known as transpiration, which is the flow of water from the ground where it is taken up by roots (plant uptake) and then lost through the leaves. Students plot volume/time data for three different native plant species, determine and compare their transpiration rates to see which had the highest reaction rate and consider how a plant's unique characteristics (leaf surface area, transpiration rate) might figure into engineers' designs for neighborhood stormwater management plans.
This resource focuses on acid rain, the effects of acid rain on the ecosystems, humans, and materials as well as what people can do to help. This resource has a history timeline of the Acid Rain Program, 9 experiments, various activities, and games/puzzles with answer keys to all materials as well.
This resource is a flexible lesson plan focusing on water pollution and the causes and sources of water pollution. This lesson plan contains directions, teacher advice, concept map, worksheets, and a Powerpoint presentation as resources.
Students are introduced to the structure, function and purpose of locks and dams, which involves an introduction to Pascal's law, water pressure and gravity.
In the Arizona desert, farmers depend on an ample supply of irrigation to grow their crops. As climate changes, irrigation managers face a host of issues to keep the water flowing.
This activity is a field investigation where students observe, predict, and gather data on steam velocity, erosion, and discharge.
This stream field investigation will allow students to look at stream erosional patterns, take measurements to determine discharge, and conduct a chemical and turbidity analysis of Garvin Brook in Stockton, MN. Based on this investigation students will create a presentation that includes a new testable question that may be carried out the following year along with a stream ecology study.
This unit will examine the scientific concepts of water cycle and watersheds. It will also go into historical events that have contributed to increased access to clean water as well as crises that exist around the world. We will explore the question ‘is water is a right’ and explore if it should be a shared societal priority to keep it clean. Finally, students will advocate for the importance of caring for and cleaning the water around us.
Students explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model houses placed in the flood plain. This activity is a small-scale model of a debris chute currently being used by engineers and scientists to study landslide characteristics. Much of this activity setup is the same as for the Survive That Tsunami activity in Lesson 5 of the Natural Disasters unit.
This unit is to be taught as an extension to the FOSS WATER INVESTIGATION 1, Part 3, WATER ON A SLOPE. After learning that water flows down a slope, students will understand that this concept determines how our watersheds flow. It will also explain why some rivers (such as the Red River) appear to be flowing "up" on a map. They will then create a landform map of Minnesota accurately representing the higher elevations (our RIDGELINES) and the location of our major rivers and bodies of water. This unit can also be extended by many of the activities in the Project Wild and the MinnAqua Lesson Books.
As Public Works Director of Nogales, Arizona, Alejandro Barcenas works to ensure a safe and secure water supply for the city’s 20,500 residents. His task isn’t easy: the city is located in an arid region just north of the United States–Mexico border, and its entire supply comes from groundwater.
Half of Nogales’ water comes from alluvial aquifers that are highly responsive to rainfall events. Though this convenient source of water recharges easily, it is also vulnerable to climate-related changes such as reduced precipitation and increased evaporation. The other half of the city’s groundwater comes from a lower-quality source—this water is more expensive to produce. To optimize the use of the two sources of groundwater into the future, Barcenas is contributing to the development of a modeling tool that simulates how the aquifers may change in response to climate.
In a class demonstration, students observe a simple water cycle model to better understand its role in pollutant transport. This activity shows one way in which pollution is affected by the water cycle; it simulates a point source of pollution in a lake and the resulting environmental consequences.
Interactive Risk Map that shows the amount of risk associated with different Natural Hazards for each area of the United States. These natural hazards include: Fires, Floods, Earthquakes, Thunderstorms / Tornadoes, Droughts, Hurricanes, Winter Weather events, Extreme heat.
This activity is a field investigation on stream tables.