This lesson helps students understand why Earth is considered the "water planet." Students analyze how much of Earth's water is available for humans to use for life-sustaining purposes, and they explore the concept of water scarcity in both physical and economic terms. They look at the many ways that humans use water and investigate international trends in agricultural, industrial, and household water consumption. The lesson also sets up the focus of this course: the concept of water footprints. Students explore how water footprints are an invaluable tool for identifying patterns of water use so that individuals, businesses, and even nations can more effectively manage their use of one of the most precious resources on Earth: water. Critical to this exploration is a visit to Watercalculator.org, where students calculate their personal water usage, analyze the results, and set a base point for tracking and conserving their water use.

This is the first of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: High School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This lesson helps students understand why Earth is considered the "water planet." Students analyze how much of Earth's water is available for humans to use for life-sustaining purposes, and they explore the concept of water scarcity in both physical and economic terms. They look at the many ways that humans use water and investigate international trends in agricultural, industrial, and household water consumption. The lesson also sets up the focus of this course: the concept of water footprints. Students explore how water footprints are an invaluable tool for identifying patterns of water use so that individuals, businesses, and even nations can more effectively manage their use of one of the most precious resources on Earth: water. Critical to this exploration is a visit to Watercalculator.org, where students calculate their personal water usage, analyze the results, and set a base point for tracking and conserving their water use.

This is the first of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: Middle School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Grade 2 Chapter 2 - Liquids have Properties. Students do simple tests to observe the properties of water, mineral oil, and corn syrup on the surface of a zip-closing plastic bag to investigate the question: Can liquids that look similar have different properties?

Grade 5 Chapter 2 - Substances have Characteristic Properties. Students compare the dissolving of salt and sugar and then conduct a dissolving test on unknown substances marked A, B, and C to investigate the question: Can substances be identified by how well they dissolve in water?

Grade 5 Chapter 2 - Substances have Characteristic Properties. Students test four known and one unknown liquid with water to investigate the question: Can you identify an unknown liquid based on how different liquids interact with water?

Grade 5 Chapter 2 - Substances have Characteristic Properties. Students repeatedly reduce the size of a clay ball while placing it in water to investigate the question: Does changing the amount of material in an object change the object’s density?

Grade 5 Chapter 2 - Substances have Characteristic Properties. After seeing the teacher compare the weight of equal volumes of water and corn syrup, students compare the weight of equal volumes of water and vegetable oil to investigate the question: Is vegetable oil more or less dense than water?

This lesson centers on a deeper exploration of the water footprint associated with food. Students learned in Lesson 1 that virtual water, especially as it relates to food, typically makes up the majority of their water footprint. In this lesson, they find out why. First, they see an attention-grabbing demonstration of how much water is needed for three food products. Second, they break into groups to do research, and then they teach their classmates about key aspects of water use related to food and agriculture. Next, they think about how their diet is influenced by social groups, advertising, and structures in place at home and at school that encourage them to potentially eat food with large water footprints. Finally, they brainstorm ways they might be able to influence change in those areas. The lesson concludes with students sharing their ideas and providing one another with constructive feedback.

This is the second of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: High School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This lesson centers on a deeper exploration of the water footprint associated with food. Students learned in Lesson 1 that virtual water, especially as it relates to food, typically makes up the majority of their water footprint. In this lesson, they find out why. First, they see an attention-grabbing demonstration of how much water is needed for three food products. Second, they break into groups to do research, and then they teach their classmates about key aspects of water use related to food and agriculture. Next, they think about how their diet is influenced by social groups, advertising, and structures in place at home and at school that encourage them to potentially eat food with large water footprints. Finally, they brainstorm ways they might be able to influence change in those areas. The lesson concludes with students sharing their ideas and providing one another with constructive feedback.

This is the second of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: Middle School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Grade 2 Chapter 3 - Dissolving is a property. Students develop a test to compare the dissolving of an M&M and a Skittle in water to investigate the question: Do M&Ms and Skittles dissolve by the same amount?

Grade 5 Chapter 3 - Substances Can Mix and React to Form New Substances. Students help design a test using baking soda, corn starch, and cream of tartar to investigate the question: Which two of the three ingredients in baking powder react to make it bubble when water is added?

Grade 5 Chapter 3 - Substances Can Mix and React to Form New Substances. Students combine an Ivory Soap solution with an Epsom salt solution to produce a solid “soap scum” to investigate the questions: What happens when you mix soap with hard water? and Is soap scum different from soap?

Session 1 of this lesson begins with a quick activity to get students thinking about their direct and virtual water use. It introduces a few new ideas for virtual water use that may surprise students, including the virtual water required for the products we buy and use. Then students form marketing teams to explore five categories of water use (indoor, outdoor, diet, electricity, and buying habits) and create infographic posters to share what they learn. Then, in Session 2, students remain in five teams to audit the school's indoor and outdoor direct water use as well as several categories of virtual water use: food, energy, and electronics. They use what they learn to create a strategic conservation action plan that incorporates their How to Save Water awareness campaign in an effort to decrease the school's overall virtual water use. The lesson can be conducted as a short project or a more comprehensive capstone project.

This is the third of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: High School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Session 1 of this lesson begins with a quick activity to get students thinking about their direct and virtual water use. It introduces a few new ideas for virtual water use that may surprise students, including the virtual water required for the products we buy and use. Then students form marketing teams to explore five categories of water use (indoor, outdoor, diet, electricity, and buying habits) and create infographic posters to share what they learn. Then, in Session 2, students remain in five teams to audit the school's indoor and outdoor direct water use as well as several categories of virtual water use: food, energy, and electronics. They use what they learn to create a strategic conservation action plan that incorporates their How to Save Water awareness campaign in an effort to decrease the school's overall virtual water use. The lesson can be conducted as a short project or a more comprehensive capstone project.

This is the third of the three-part Lessons for Understanding Our Water Footprint: Middle School Lesson Plans.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Grade 2 Chapter 4 - Float and Sink. Students place small common objects made from wax, wood, metal, and rubber in water to investigate the question: Do certain materials tend to float or sink in water?

Grade 2 Chapter 5 - Heating and Cooling. Students design and conduct an experiment to see if baking powder causes more bubbling in warm or cold water to investigate the question: Does baking powder produce more bubbles when it is heated or cooled?

This article highlights lessons that help K-grade 5 students understand that animals and plants can only survive in certain environments.The lessons support the theme of an issue of the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The theme is "We Depend on Earth's Climate."

Using the web-based lessons highlighted in this article, students learn how to pose questions before, during, and after reading nonfiction, fiction, and diagrams. This reading comprehension strategy is included in the literacy column of the magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, a free, online publication for K-5 teachers.

Three types of climate proxies -- tree rings, fossils, and ice cores -- are the subjects of lessons that will help K-5 students understand that Earth's climate has been different in the past and that scientists can reveal its history. This article is from the science lessons column of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The magazine is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy and identifies age-appropriate resources for young learners.

The author identifies online lessons that will support students in applying evaluation skills to fiction and nonfiction texts. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science education and literacy skills instruction.