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Overview
Where Does the Water Go? is an ambitious, stimulating, yet pragmatic hands-on learning project designed to
engage your school in a continuing investigation of local bodies of water. It gives your students an opportunity
to explore complex issues and take action in their own community in a way that continues outside the boundaries
of the conventional school year. As they engage relevant, real-world problems, they build content knowledge,
exercise critical thinking skills, and develop wide-ranging communication abilities.
Project Activities
Where Does the Water Go? is an interdisciplinary project that combines science, math, communication,
computer, and social learning opportunities. Over a period of several years, classes visit a chosen water site to
monitor the quality of the water and the health of the local ecosystem. By conducting a wide variety of handson,
inquiry-based activities and scientific investigations, and by collecting and interpreting data, they become local experts on this
body of water. |
| In the course of this hands-on, inquiry-based form of study, students will: |
- Investigate the ways in which the body of water is being used, both by humans and other living organisms.
- Monitor the quality of the body of water.
- Monitor the health of the ecosystem in and surrounding the body of water.
- Propose and implement a plan of action to conserve, protect, or restore the body of water.
- Analyze the impact of their action plan over an extended period of time.
As they compile and continually refine their observations and data, students work in cooperative teams to build
innovative and educational websites to share with the world. In the process, they improve research, writing,
teamwork, and technology skills. The highly interactive nature of Where Does the Water Go? inspires students to think, connect, create,
and share their work – and their difficulties – in accomplishing complex goals. |
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Timeline
The project cycle begins with students in ninth grade. Four teachers will be selected to integrate Where Does the Water Go? with their
current curricula in ways that extend and enhance content and learning opportunities. In following years, these same students will
continue their investigations, building on the knowledge and skills they have learned while focusing on new curriculum objectives
appropriate to their grade level.
Meanwhile, with each subsequent year, new teachers will be trained and new cycles of Where Does the Water Go? will be launched
with new groups of ninth graders. Teachers from previous years will provide support to continuing investigations with new groups of
students and serve as mentors for new teachers as they become involved in the program. |
Year One
In the first year of the project, students become environmental investigators. Through a variety of activities, they will develop research
and note-taking skills as they define the body of water selected by their teachers,
including its sources and outflows. |
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Activities Include: |
- Introductory Presentation: To build foundation knowledge, students will research the
history and uses of the body of water and its impact on local plants, animals, and people.
As they uncover issues and concerns related to the quality of water and/or the health of
the ecosystem, students share their findings with other schools as well as their local
community. (Science, Social Studies, ELA)
- Point and Non-point Pollution: Students will identify various sources of water pollution and
explain human impact on water quality.
- Learning Objective: develop research skills that address both visible and hidden
cause-and-effect relationships. (Science, Social Studies, ELA)
- The Water Near Here: Students will develop a survey, implement the survey, and evaluate the data collected.
- Learning Objective: learn to identify bias in information gathering techniques. (Social Studies, ELA, Math
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- Water Site Evaluation: Students will define their body of water and water evaluation site.
- Learning Objective: develop research skills, including information technology skills; develop advanced map-reading skills
including reading satellite maps); gather information required for making a hypothesis. (Science, Social Studies, ELA, Math).
- Developing a Hypothesis: Students will explore the purpose of developing a hypothesis in academic research.
- Learning Objective: develop an understanding of a null hypothesis and explain the importance of developing multiple working
hypotheses. (Social Studies, Science)
- Map Making: Students will create a variety of maps related to their water site.
- Learning Objective: demonstrate an understanding of how different maps have different purposes. (Social Studies, Math)
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| Year Two |
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In the second year of the project, students continue to monitor their body of water and look for trends in the data. In addition, they
will extend their own activities in collaboration with other schools and learn ways to communicate their findings.
Activities Include: |
- Welcome to My Water: Students will build on their experiences from year one to create a variety of
electronic and print publications that educate and inform younger students about their specific water
site.
- Learning Objective: adjust the tone and content of publications for different audiences. (ELA)
- Water Site Visits: Students will make regular site visits to evaluate their body of water and water
evaluation site on a regular basis.
- Learning Objective: look for and validate trends in data. (Science, ELA, Math)
- Attributes of Water: Students will develop an understanding of important properties of water: pH,
salinity, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity.
- Learning Objective: investigate how each of these properties impacts the ecosystem. (Science)
- Water Critters: Students will investigate and identify the benthic macroinvertebrates (“benthos” – animals without backbones
larger than half-a-millimeter) that live in their water environment.
- Learning Objective: create a web site to help visitors identify these organisms and demonstrate an understanding of the relation
ship these small animals have on the health of the ecosystem.(Science)
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- Save Our Water: Students will research existing local, state, and federal laws designed to protect the health and quality of their
body of water. Based on their findings, they will propose and implement a specific plan of action to conserve, protect, and restore
their body of water. Proposals must include suggestions for amending existing laws or creating new laws, as well as a process for
submitting these suggestions to existing environmental agencies and political representatives. The proposals may also include
direct action, fundraising, and/or awareness campaigns. (Social Studies, ELA)
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Continued Collaboration
Although Where Does the Water Go? is designed as a three-year investigation, though
many educators choose to continue the project beyond this timeframe. We see this
project not as a simulation, but as a real-world activity with potentially global impact.
As each new cycle of students assumes the responsibility for monitoring the health
and quality of the body of water those before them have studied, they will continue to
look for trends, analyze the impact that participating schools have had, propose new
action plans, and communicate findings with other participating schools.
The students benefit. The school benefits. The community benefits. And an increasing
number of informed and eco-literate adults will know...
Where Does the Water Go? |
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