Curated OER
Water in the Geosphere
Through a PowerPoint presentation and the embedded animation and video, earth science enthusiasts find out about the moisture in the soil beneath our feet. In the animation, follow a water molecule on its path through the water cycle. As...
Curated OER
Water in Earth's Hydrosphere
Environmentalists test stream water for temperature, pH, and turbidity. Each group shares their information and then the class makes an overall evaluation of the water quality. A slide show sets the backdrop for the teaching portion and...
Curated OER
Water Conservation
Open learners' eyes to the challenge of finding safe drinking water – something we often take for granted in our country. The PowerPoint presentation includes images, graphs, diagrams, and even a video to stimulate discussion on how we...
Curated OER
Exploring Density with Salt and Fresh Water: Part 5
This particular lesson was written by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, but density is a concept that you can teach at the beginning of the school year in your life, physical, or earth science classes. It would be fun to...
Curated OER
Earth's Water: A drop in your cup
Students complete activities where they observe the amount of freshwater in the world as a fraction of the actual amount of water using different mixtures. In this freshwater lesson plan, students brainstorm on how to preserve freshwater.
Curated OER
Where's the Water? Stream Side Science
After a whole-class discussion of water reservoirs, ten liters of water are given to each lab group to represent Earth's total amount of water. They divide the water into smaller containers, each representing one of those reservoirs. The...
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Water Ecosystems
Freshwater and Saltwater ecosystems are the focus of this Earth Science PowerPoint. Presentation is full of interesting facts, photographs, and maps. A slide with review questions appears at the end of the presentation. Very nice!
National Geographic
World Waterworks Activity
As a way to quickly expose your science class to six different freshwater projects around the world, this lesson assigns each small group to research and share one. All of the information is gleaned from the website for CH2M HILL, a...
Curated OER
Environment: Water & Air
The introduction to the lesson mentions a sailor's limited capacity to store drinking water on his ship. Pupils then set up an overnight experiment to remove freshwater from salt water by distillation. There is a math and map activity to...
Curated OER
Locating the Salt Front - Section 1
In this salt front of the Hudson River worksheet, 7th graders first read an excerpt about the lower portion of the Hudson River that is an estuary. Then they use a colored pencil to plot salinity data from the table shown on a graph,...
Curated OER
Teaching About the Hydrosphere
Eighth graders are introduced to the Earth's hydrologic system including the cycling of water in the atmosphere and the movement of water on the surface of the planet using the Great Lakes watershed as an example.
Michigan Sea Grant
Water Quantity
It may be tricky for a young mind to conceptualize that less than 1% of all water on earth is useable for humans to drink. Simulating the amount of fresh water available on earth by removing measured amounts of water from a five-gallon...
Curated OER
Build An Island
Students explore erosion. In this science lesson plan, students build an island and observe the effects of erosion on the island. Students discuss freshwater ecosystems in Hawaii.
Curated OER
Biomes: Freshwater & Seawater
Students observe organisms behavior and adaptations. In this biomes lesson students conduct fieldwork to determine water quality and answer questions about the differences between different habitats.
Curated OER
Freshwater on Earth
In this freshwater on Earth worksheet, 8th graders color and complete 2 graphs as described in the given information. First, they color the non-drinkable water portion red and the freshwater portion blue in the top graph. Then, students...
Curated OER
A Tool for the Environment
For this desalting salt water worksheet, students will read about three different methods of desalting sea water which includes distilling, crystallizing, and filtering. Students will describe these methods in three short answer...
Curated OER
Water
In this water worksheet, students read an excerpt about the effects of pollution on the life cycle of a lake. Then they describe how lakes are affected by the pollution. Students also define why pollution has become such a problem for...
Curated OER
Watch Your Water Use
Students record their freshwater usage over a period of a week. They calculate the amount of water used for all water activities such as brushing teeth, flushing the toilet, showering, and washing the dishes. They use an online tally to...
Curated OER
Groundwater Concepts
Students use a digital atlas and other electronic resources to explore freshwater reservoirs in Idaho. They discover the importance of groundwater and discuss the agricultural, industrial and domestic uses of underground reservoirs....
Curated OER
Groundwater Resources
Pupils use digital maps to explore underground reservoirs. Individually, or in small groups, students access specified internet sites and research uses and locations of groundwater. Pupils explore the percentage of usable water,...