Objectives:

Students will...

• Review the path of water through tributaries to a larger body of water.
• Demonstrate their understanding of the impact that land usage has on the water as it travels to the major water body.
• Relate the water cycle to the pollution of major bodies.

Set Induction:

Students will be asked to write a short paragraph from the perspective of a water droplet. What happens to the droplet after falling on the roof of the school? How does the type of land the droplet flows through affect it? What substances might it pick up and what effects might these chemicals have on its destination, the larger body of water?

Lesson Content:

The teacher will facilitate a discussion among the students about their ideas on where the water travels, and what causes water to travel a particular path. Using a map of the area, the students and teacher will trace together the actual path the water would take, making note of the types of land cover the water flows through that were not mentioned earlier by the students. The class then discusses the possible impacts of these land uses on the larger body of water into which the original raindrop flows. Students should use a colored pencil to draw the path of the water on their maps. Next to last, the class will discuss how the water cycle and evaporation can amplify the pollution problem.

Lesson Closure:

The class will predict what type(s) of environment will produce the least change in the water droplet and cause the least harm to the major body of water.

Lesson Schedule:

• Set Induction: 5 min.
• Lesson Content: 5-10 min.
• Lesson Closure: 5-10 min.

Materials:

1. Local map.
2. Colored pencils
3. White paper
4. Pen/ pencil