Curated OER
Life Giving Rivers
Students examine the world's rivers in this six lessons unit which mingles science with social studies. The dynamic forces that create erosion in nature are also seen as habitats and ecosystems that are affected by environmental and man...
Curated OER
Earth: The Water Planet
Students elicit data on the water cycle, ocean topography, and island formation in this six lesson unit. The ocean floor and the properties of water are examined through a variety of discussions and hands-on experiments.
Curated OER
How Does Mining Produce Acid Runoff?
Pupils examine how mining and other industry operations can lead to acid runoff. In this mining lesson plan students study weathering and complete a lab on it.
Curated OER
Where Does Water Run Off After School?
Middle schoolers conduct a study of the school grounds in order to find information about how water moves during the rainy season. They estimate the area of the school grounds and determine the route that water would take as storm runoff.
Curated OER
Landfills and the Potential for Groundwater Contamination
Students examine how a sanitary landfill is constructed, how it functions, and how waste and leachate affects the areas around the landfill. After a discussion about landfills and leachates, students construct a Sanitary Landfill Model...
Curated OER
Geography Action! Rivers 2001-Runoff
Students experiment with how rain affects topsoil using dirt and red tempera paint. At the end of the activity, students find red water in their collection jar, representing nutrients in the soil.
Curated OER
Water Above the Ground
Students create a river drainage basin using a plastic tub, sand and a pitcher of water. They simulate the flow of water through the basin then add chocolate syrup to model what would happen if stormwater pollution entered the basin.
Curated OER
Rain Gardens for Controlling Excess Runoff
Students address the idea that human beings live within the world' ecosystems. They discuss how humans modify ecosystems as a result of population growth, technology, and consumption. Students discuss how the human destruction of...
Curated OER
Where Does the Water Around Our School Go?
Students in groups, map quadrants of the area around the school and make predictions about the direction of waterflow and zones of accumulation that will occur when it rains. Then when it does rain they check to see if their prediction...
Curated OER
Journey Through the Water Cycle
Students canvass the water cycle in the seven lessons of this unit. The processes of the water cycle and the cyclical nature of water is emphasized inthis unit.
Curated OER
Teaching about Rain Storms, Land Use, and Lake Turbidity
Students investigate the impacts of major rainfall and subsequent runoff on turbidity in lakes. They, in groups, develop a presentation of their research and/or write a paper summarizing their investigation.
eSchool Today
E School Today: Your Revision Notes on the Water Cycle
Learn about the different stages of the Earth's water cycle, and about processes involving water, including runoff, infiltration, and the differences between hard and soft water.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign: The Hydrologic Cycle
Water is the source of life on earth. It exists in many forms and is constantly changing. The circulation and conservation of earth's water is called the hydrologic (or water) cycle. Find out how water evaporates, condensates,...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Ponds and Streams: How Clean Is Our Water?
In this field lab, students investigate the differences in three city ponds. Students will compare pond life, temperature, pH, Ammonia, dissolved oxygen, and Nitrate. The student use the pond sheets (Flinn Scientific Catalog 2007) to...
NOAA
Noaa: National Ocean Service Education: Nonpoint Source Pollution
Illustrated tutorial explains nonpoint source pollution and its role in the health of the environment. Students learn about different sources of pollution and how these pollutants contaminate the land, air, and water. Click on the links...
US Geological Survey
Usgs: Water Science for Schools Effects of Urbanization
This U.S. Geological Survey website offers a short article then lists topics that are linked to brief articles that describe that particular topic's effect on water quality in urban areas. Click Home to access the site in Spanish.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Water and Wind
This interactive tutorial discusses the flow of water on the surface and below the surface. You will learn about the causes and actions of wind, and how water and wind move sediment.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Guide to Rain Garden Construction
Student groups create personal rain gardens planted with native species to provide a green infrastructure and low-impact development technology solution for areas with poor drainage that often flood during storm events.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Watershed Balance
This lesson teaches the concept of a watershed and why it is important in the context of engineering hydrology. Students learn about runoff and how we visualize runoff in the form of hydrographs.
Other
Virtual Field Trip: Water/aquifers
This virtual field trip for middle school students looks at aquifers and their place in the hydrologic cycle. Students learn why and how it is important to protect the source of your drinking water and some unique details about the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Make a Miniature Water Cycle Model
In this activity, you will investigate some of the processes that make water move in and out of the atmosphere by making a miniature water cycle model inside a plastic bag.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign: A Summary of the Hydrologic Cycle
Animation and text explain the water--or hydrologic--cycle, which is the process that water undergoes in nature.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Jason: Land Erosion Running Off With Soil
Rainforests at the Crossroads: Examine the relationship between rainfall and runoff on Barro Colorado Island (BCI) over a period of one year. Then examine the data and use the TI-73 Explorer to graph and analyze the values.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Jason: Land Erosion Does Vegetation Matter?
Rainforests at the Crossroads: Collect runoff from two simulated sites: 1) a tray with soil, 2) a tray with soil and vegetation, to see how vegetation affects erosion and to compare and examine the runoff from the sites.