Curated OER
Soil Testing
Earth science learners experiment with the water-holding properties of sand, pebbles, and clay. They apply their findings to the building of a well. This activity is engaging and tactile, and it demonstrates the importance of considering...
Calvin Crest Outdoor School
Survival
Equip young campers with important survival knowledge with a set of engaging lessons. Teammates work together to complete three outdoor activities, which include building a shelter, starting a campfire, and finding directions in the...
Safe Drinking Water Foundation
To Filter or Not to Filter
Drinking clean water can be taken for granted. Explore the process and high cost of filtering water with a water pollution and filtration activity. Young scientist build a filtration system to filter polluted water, examine the economics...
University of California
Weathering and Erosion
Just how powerful is erosion? Interested scientists learn how to identify the results of erosion with a series of lab activities. They move through stations to experiment with different types of erosion and then design and complete their...
Curated OER
Thirstin's Groundwater Movement Activity
Students examine how ground water flows through different materials. In groups, they identify the different types of rocks in various aquifers. To end the lesson, they pretend to be water as others pretend to be rocks and try to make...
Curated OER
The Chemistry of Water
Students investigate the properties of water. In this chemistry of water lesson plan, students observe a demonstration of the properties of water using sand, sugar, oil, vinegar and salad dressing. Students experiment with water, pepper,...
Curated OER
Water Works
Young scholars investigate water use and what happens at a water treatment plant. They define and discuss key vocabulary terms, view a diagram of a water treatment plant, and conduct an experiment that simulates the water filtration...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle and Sources of Pollution
Students make an island that has a construction site on it. They spill siulated pollution and trash on top of the island and then water it to simulate rain. They will observe how the rain washes dirt, sand, and pollution off the island...
Curated OER
Water Treatment Plant
Second graders create their own water treatment system. In this water treatment lesson, 2nd graders create the water treatment system and record how it works. Students list materials they used and write about what they saw. Students then...
Curated OER
The Other Water Cycle
Middle schoolers examine human impacts on the water cycle. They compare/contrast the permeability of various materials for the purpose of engineering landscape drainage systems, and answer discussion questions.
Curated OER
soil, Water, and Plants
Students examine the relationship between water retention and plant growth by conducting two experiments. They first compare the water retention qualities of clay, sand and loam soil types. Then they use the data from the first...
Curated OER
Cleaning Water: How Filters Work
Students construct their own water filter to obtain clean water. In this filtration instructional activity, students produce tainted water in order to properly filter it with filtration devices made in class.
Curated OER
Sand & Water: Shape Search
Students act as amateur archaeologists as they participate in their own "dig" to explore and record unusual shapes. In this shape exploration lesson, students use trowels and shovels to dig, and learn to sift the dirt with screens to...
Curated OER
Water Filtration
Students demonstrate the four of five procedures that municipal water plants use to purify water for drinking. A water filtration system is designed by a student and their partner. A data chart is made to record all observations when the...
Facts and Files
The Nile
While it may not be possible to take an entire class to Egypt and explore the ancient wonders, it is possible to engage your young historians in activities that ask them to research these and other antiquities and place them on their...
Curated OER
Model of a Well
Learners complete an experiment using wire screening, wires, water, sand, and food coloring to compare the relationship of groundwater to wells. For this water lesson plan, students observe and record what they see after they complete...
Curated OER
#16 Separation Science Lab
Learners in this inquiry-based experiment, put in the role of a method development chemist. The scenario they are given is that a train wreck has occurred resulting in a chemical spill. Students are told that the spill mixture consists...
Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Does It Soak Right In?
Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign roles...
Curated OER
Land and People: Cape Cod Activity 1
Students make a model aquifer to study the uniqueness of Cape Cod's ground-water system. Using the model., they determine how easily contamination spreads in the aquifer system by completing and recording three activities. Using the...
DiscoverE
Bridges, Buildings and Beyond Activity Packet: Grades 3-5
The road to a better understanding of engineering lies with bridges and tunnels. A set of four engaging activities teaches learners about engineering concepts related to construction projects. They perform an experiment to find the...
Curated OER
Groundwater Movement
Students study groundwater movement beneath the surface of the Earth. In this agriculture lesson, students experiment with how water moves through rock materials such as sand, gravel, and clay.
Curated OER
Measuring Permeability of Soil, Sand and Gravel
Students investigate the different materials in their environment. In this geology lesson, students collaborate in groups to examine the differences in sand, soil and gravel. Students utilize a magnifying glass or microscope and record...
Curated OER
Using GIS to Construct Water Table Maps and Flow Nets
Students examine how to use GIS software to analyze patterns of groundwater flow. Seepage lake elevation data from the Sand Hills of Nebraska is used to construct a water table map and flow net using Esri's Arc Map software.
Curated OER
Groundwater as Part of the Water Cycle
Ninth graders study the effects of soil and rocks on filtering groundwater. In this groundwater lesson students complete a lab activity that includes sources of contamination.