First, young citizens learn about water consumption by doing some research themselves on their home water usage and sharing their findings with the class. Then, they do some brainstorming and devise a plan to reduce water consumption.

Concepts

drinking water, water conservation, sustainability, environmental stewardship

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Provides an opportunity to introduce the class to recent issues about water scarcity and quality in the United States (the California drought, the Flint water crisis)
• Compare United States water consumption to the consumption habits in other underdeveloped countries to see the staggering difference
• A month after the lesson, reconvene and see how well the kids were able to stick to their conservation action plans

Classroom Considerations

• The link on page 1 in the teacher background section is linked improperly, but the correct link can be found by googling "right to a clean environment the advocates for human rights"
• The link on page four to the water usage statistics is linked improperly; find the right site by googling "drinktap water use statistics"

Pros

• Encourages thought about water consumption habits that many children won't yet have considered
• Serves as a great introduction to data gathering and analysis

Cons

• None