Students act as engineers contracted by NASA to create water filtration devices that clean visible particulates from teacher-prepared "dirty water." They learn about the worldwide need for potable water and gain appreciation for why water quality is an important issue for people on Earth as well as on the International Space Station. Working in groups, students experience the entire engineering design process, including a read-aloud book about the water cycle; a visiting water engineer presentation; their own online research about filter methods and designs; group brainstorming of designs (using ordinary household materials); filter construction and testing; redesign and retesting; lab book documentation of their notes, research, plans and results; and a summary poster presentation at a mini-engineering fair. Two design planning worksheets, a poster layout suggestion sheet and a grading rubric are provided.

Students discover how tiny microscopic plants can remove nutrients from polluted water. They also learn how to engineer a system to remove pollutants faster and faster by changing the environment for the algae.

Learn how to make a water filter using materials from around your home or classroom.

Student teams learn how water filtration systems that use nanoparticles and nanotechnology can remove organic compounds from water. First they learn about the role nanoparticles play in water filtration. Then they are introduced to the basics of nanoparticles and nanotechnology, focusing on the impacts and benefits this innovative technology has on our daily lives. Using methylene blue and methyl orange solutions, students test for the efficiency of photocatalytic nanoparticles to sanitize water. They expose a solution sample of water and methyl orange (the microbe indicator) with their newly-made water sanitation filters under UV light (sunlight) to activate the photocatalytic properties of three specific nanoparticles. They visually compare them with control samples to determine the best photocatalytic nanoparticle to sanitize water.

The Ocean Health Index is a new, comprehensive measure of the ocean’s overall condition – one that treats people and nature as integrated parts of a healthy system. The ocean touches nearly every aspect of our lives – making it essential to the economic, social, and ecological well-being of everyone, everywhere. Evaluated globally and by country, the Ocean Health Index presents 10 public goals that represent the wide range of benefits that a healthy ocean provides to people. Each country’s overall score is the average of its 10 goal scores. Overall scores and individual goal scores are directly comparable between all countries. All scores range from 0 to 100.

Students learn about the techniques engineers have developed for changing ocean water into drinking water, including thermal and membrane desalination. They begin by reviewing the components of the natural water cycle. They see how filters, evaporation and/or condensation can be components of engineering desalination processes. They learn how processes can be viewed as systems, with unique objects, inputs, components and outputs, and sketch their own system diagrams to describe their own desalination plant designs.

Los estudiantes leen un articulo, miran un video y toman notas de estos dos recursos de los que aprenden sobre contaminación del agua pluvial y como prevenirla. También aprenden la frase "que no baje agua sucia al drenaje" y escriben un ensayo para informar a otros estudiantes sobre la importancia del agua limpia para tener peces sanos.

Your class has been asked to help other students to learn about the importance of clean waterfor healthy fish. Students will read an article and watch a video, taking notes on these sources. Through these sources, students will learn about stormwaterpollution and how we can prevent it. They will also learn the importance of this phrase: Only rain down the drain! Essays will help other students to understand the importance of clean water for healthy fish! Includes Teacher directions and scoring notes

Students experience the steps of the engineering design process as they design solutions for a real-world problem that could affect their health. After a quick review of the treatment processes that municipal water goes through before it comes from the tap, they learn about the still-present measurable contamination of drinking water due to anthropogenic (human-made) chemicals. Substances such as prescription medication, pesticides and hormones are detected in the drinking water supplies of American and European metropolitan cities. Using chlorine as a proxy for estrogen and other drugs found in water, student groups design and test prototype devices that remove the contamination as efficiently and effectively as possible. They use plastic tubing and assorted materials such as activated carbon, cotton balls, felt and cloth to create filters with the capability to regulate water flow to optimize the cleaning effect. They use water quality test strips to assess their success and redesign for improvement. They conclude by writing comprehensive summary design reports.

Director of the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Clean Water Technologies.

Making sure the world’s population has enough drinking water is one of the biggest challenges we face today. A rapidly increasing global population, the fact that only a very small percentage of global water is available for consumption and an uneven global distribution of clean drinking water are the main problems in regard to the current global water crisis.

Professor Hilal discusses these problems and some of the possible solutions the University’s Centre for Clean Water Technologies is currently researching. He discusses advances the centre has made, such as the development of membrane technology to aid in the re-use of water.

The world-leading reputation for research that Professor Hilal has earned in the fields of membrane technology and water treatment have been formally recognized by the award of the prestigious “Kuwait Prize of Applied Science for Water Resources Development” for the year 2005. This prize is one of the highest scientific honours awarded in the Middle East for intellectual achievement. It marked the first time that the award had been made to an academic in a UK university.

Director of the University of Nottingham’s Centre for Clean Water Technologies.

Making sure the world’s population has enough drinking water is one of the biggest challenges we face today. A rapidly increasing global population, the fact that only a very small percentage of global water is available for consumption and an uneven global distribution of clean drinking water are the main problems in regard to the current global water crisis.

Professor Hilal discusses these problems and some of the possible solutions the University’s Centre for Clean Water Technologies is currently researching. He discusses advances the centre has made, such as the development of membrane technology to aid in the re-use of water.

The world-leading reputation for research that Professor Hilal has earned in the fields of membrane technology and water treatment have been formally recognized by the award of the prestigious “Kuwait Prize of Applied Science for Water Resources Development” for the year 2005. This prize is one of the highest scientific honours awarded in the Middle East for intellectual achievement. It marked the first time that the award had been made to an academic in a UK university.

Students use a thermal process approach to design, build and test a small-scale desalination plant that is capable of significantly removing the salt content from a saltwater solution. Students use a saltwater circuit to test the efficiency of their model desalination plant and learn how the water cycle is the basis for the thermal processes that drive their desalination plant.

Students are asked to design methods to filter water using ordinary materials, while also considering their designs' material and cost efficiencies. They learn about the importance of water and its role in our everyday lives. They come to understand what must occur each day so that they can have clean water.

This activity focuses on getting students to think about bacteria, water quality and water treatment processes. Students develop and test their hypotheses about the "cleanliness" of three water samples prepared by the teacher. Then they grow bacteria in Petri dishes from the water samples. They learn how private septic systems and community sewage and wastewater treatment plants work, the consequences to the surrounding environment and wildlife from human wastewater, and what measurements of the released "clean" water are monitored to minimize harm to receiving rivers and lakes.