Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!
Overview: In this lesson, students will learn about water as an extremely limited natural resource. Water is used in many aspects of life every day, but there is only a small amount of clean, available freshwater for human use- and this is reduced every day! In this activity you will learn where our supply of global water is, and how we can conserve water as a resource for human use.
Grade Level: 1-4. For 5+, click here. For adults, click here and here
Theme: Water availability, natural resource use
Supervision needed? No
Essential Questions:
Is water a limited or unlimited resource?
Where is our water stored globally?
Materials Needed:
One Sheet of Paper
Measuring Cup
Computer
Standards:
13.1 Describe types of natural resources and their connection with health.
Ecological Health 13.2 Describe how business, industry, and individuals can work cooperatively to solve ecological health problems, such as conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution
Ecological Health 13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.
Ecological Health 14.2 Identify ways the physical environment is related to individual and community health
14.3 List practices and products that make living safer.
Let’s start by watching this introduction video!
Student-led Experiment
Activity Duration: 15 Minutes
Materials Needed:
1. sheet of paper
2. measuring cup & two water glasses
3. computer
step 1: water availability
Please watch this video below and then move onto Step 2!
step 2: water usage activity
From this video we are able to see that water is an incredibly limited resource! Is water really that important? In today’s activity we are going to look at some ways we use water and how much water we can save if we change our habits!
Question 1: Let’s brainstorm 10 things we NEED water for!
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Now let’s see how much water we typically use, and how much we could save if we change some simple habits and fixtures. For this activity you will need:
sheet of paper
two equal sized water glasses
a measuring cup
Brushing our Teeth:
We all should be brushing our teeth twice a day for 2 minutes at a time. Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with ¼ cup of water.
These cups represent that you can use 88% less water if you shut the faucet off when brushing your teeth. You only need to turn it on when you are rinsing! Later we will calculate how many gallons you would save!
Showering:
If one person showers once a day for 10 minutes, you can use up to 40 gallons of water! Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with 1 cup of water.
These two cups represent how you can use 50% less water if you take a 5 minute shower instead of a 10 minute shower!
If you change your shower head to a low flow shower head, you can use 50% less than above by cutting your flow in half! Take the cup on the right and remove ½ cup of water. Later we will calculate how many gallons you would save!
Hand-Washing Dishes:
If we hand wash our dishes for 10 minutes while leaving the faucet running, we could use up to 40 gallons of water! Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with ¼ cup of water.
These two cups represent how you can use 88% less water if you shut the faucet off when washing the dishes. You would only need to turn it on when you are rinsing or filling the sink with soapy water. Next we will calculate how many gallons you would save!
Step 3: Water Worksheet
Based on the three things we just learned, let’s find out how much water we could save by applying the above changes to our lives! Calculate the difference between the Traditional Usage and the Conservative Usage using the table below.
Want more of a challenge and to learn more? Click below to calculate your home water usage!
Step 4: Let’s Reflect
Question 1: What percent of the water on Earth is available for humans to use? (Hint: think back to the first video on water availability)
Question 2: What are 5 ways that you can save water in your house?
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