HOW DO HUMANS AFFECT WATERSHEDS?
SECTION ONE:
Identifying standards and
objectives
Essential Elements of Inquiry:
(ALL
MUST BE WITHIN THE UNIT)
- Engage in scientifically oriented questions
- Give priority to evidence…
- Draw conclusions or formulate explanations
- Connect and evaluate explanations with scientific knowledge
- Communicate and justify
proposed explanations
PA Academic Standards for Science and Technology:
3.5.4.D.
PA Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology:
4.1.4.A.
4.1.4.C.
4.1.4.D.
4.1.4.E.
PA Academic Standards for RWLS:
PA Academic Standards for Math:
Enduring Understandings:
A watershed is a land area with a common drainage, and what happens at the
head of the watershed, impacts everything below it.
Essential Questions:
What is a watershed?
What lives in a watershed?
How do we as humans affect it?
Performance standards
:
To meet the standards, students will be able to:
- Explain what a watershed is
- Locate their watershed
- Identify living things in a watershed including macroinvertebrates
- Analyze effects of personal actions on the watershed
SECTION TWO:
Identifying
assessment
- Pre-Instructional Assessment: Checking for prior knowledge - Brainstorming
- Formative: Periodically, check for understanding by asking students the
essential questions throughout the lesson
- Summative (post-instructional assessment): RUBRIC?
SECTION THREE
: Identifying lesson
activities
Materials
Jars of soil and water, one per class group
THE LORAX video, handout
Adaptations for student of special needs:
ENGAGE:
Learners become interested,
raise questions, and focus attention on target concepts.
Write down everything you know about a watershed
- In SCIED 458 class groups, shake a jar of water and soil then ask:
- How long it will take to settle?
- What are the three particles in soil? Sizes?
- How does soil get into water?
- Do other materials get into soil? Where do these materials come from?
- Do humans play a role in changing the amount and kind of materials that
get into water? How?
- Watch THE LORAX
in Large Group and complete attached sheet in PBL
groups
- State Parks Guest Speaker:
Heidi
Boyle
- Explain the watersheds of PA
- Sum of the Parts (Project Wet):
- Concepts: Point and Nonpoint Source Pollution
Rationale:
To develop the idea of the
system known as a watershed, students need to build their understanding of a
watershed by constructing a model on paper then examining their models for human
impacts and natural reactions to the changes caused by humans within the
watershed.
Objectives: TSWBAT:
compare and contrast point and nonpoint source pollution
explain the impact each individual has on the water quality of a river
analyze a model and identify point and nonpoint sources of pollution
identify Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce pollution
Materials:
fishing line, numbered
pieces of paper, boxes of crayons, cellophane tape, masking tape, handout of
BMPs
Ask:
- What would you do if I gave you a million dollars and some riverfront
property?
- Would you build a house? Start a farm? Build a factory? Log or mine the
area? Create a wildlife refuge?
- Today, we’re going to find out what you would do through an activity where
you get to explore what you would do with a million dollars and riverfront
property.
Distribute materials:
The A1, B1, C1,
D1, E1, and F1 individuals need to come forward and get a piece of fishing line,
two boxes of crayons, a roll of masking tape and a roll of cellophane tape.
Instructions:
Each of you has been provided a sheet of paper as you entered today with
letter and a number. The letter symbolizes the group with which you belong.
The number identifies you individually within that group. You’re to draw a
picture of what you would do with a chunk of riverfront property if you were
given one million dollars.
- As students draw what they will do with their land. Observe drawings for
connections to understanding of human impact on the natural environment. Ask
questions:
- What are you putting there?
- Will it help or hurt the quality of the water in the river?
- Why do you think so?
- When all are finished, select one member to tape your fishing line to a
wall. Using the numbers on the upper right-hand corner of your picture,
assemble the river as you would a puzzle, from #1 to #15. Tape them to the
fishing line so all can see them.
Discussion:
Students describe how they
developed their land and how they used water. Ask:
- How did you develop your land?
- How did you use water?
- How did your actions affect the river?
Pollution Simulation:
Have students select one item to represent their impact on the river.
Have students line up in front of their pieces of river front property.
Have students announce what kind of pollution they have then pass it
downstream.
Teacher observes and manages potential problems.
Discussion Questions:
How did students in the middle or the end of the river feel about the
pollution that was passed to them?
- Is anyone seeing potential changes they would make with their property use
plans? What are they?
- Can a person downstream be affected by the actions of an upstream person?
- Can a person upstream alter the water quality of those downstream?
- Teacher tells students to return their items to their original owners then
everyone has a seat. #11s from each group come up and get one handout for
every two people in your group.
Explanation:
Items easily identified as
your own simulate point source pollution. Other items that are more
difficult to claim simulate nonpoint source pollution. These come from
multiple sources and are more difficult to tell from whom they come. Point
source and nonpoint source pollution both diminish water quality.
- Point source
can be easily identified from a factory, a pipe pumping
out raw sewage, a discharge of heated water into a river from a power plant, a
barrel, a ditch or a channel.
- Nonpoint source
pollution is usually from multiple sources that are
dispersed from a wide land area. Oil could come from a point source, but it
could just as easily come from a large parking lot, or carelessly disposed of
oil from a suburb full of people changing the oil in their cars, lawnmowers
and four wheelers. Soil, our number one source of pollution, can come from
farmers’ croplands, pastures grazed by cows that are allowed to graze the
stream edges and enter the creeks, or even river front home owners that mow
down to the edge of the water. Both are problems, but their sources are
different.
*THIS SECTION OF THE LESSON MIGHT BE CONTINUED DURING THE EVALUTATION PHASE!
Problems Solved Discussion:
Discuss
the BMPs sheet with students, having students identify the land use they chose
for their section of river front property and how they might lessen their
impact on the water quality of the river.
Assessment
: Have students:
- Write a paragraph describing how they would reduce the amount of
pollution they have contributed.
- Research regulations governing waterfront property in their communities.
- Go for a walk along a waterway. Identify point and nonpoint sources of
water pollution observed on the walk.
EXPLORE: Learners interact with materials and each other.
Center A: What is a watershed?
Have a bowl and eyedropper. Have
students drop water on the sides of the bowl. Students will draw this simulation
in their journals. Through questioning, help students realize the bowl is a
model of the watershed. The bowl drains the water to the lowest point. Explain a
puddle that forms after a rainstorm is a lot like this watershed.
- A2:
Do the same thing with a bent
aluminum pan and explain how watersheds aren’t all the same height and water
can move from one place to another in a watershed. Through questioning, help
students realize a stream or river with running water is a lot like this.
- A3:
Crumple a newspaper. Put a
plastic bag over it. Figure out where the watershed(s) are here (outline them
with a sharpie marker). How many watersheds are there? Through questioning,
help student realize many small watersheds can drain a larger watershed called
a water basin.
Center B: What lives in a watershed?
Macroinvertebrate Mayhem (Project Wet) –
see handout
Put a tally on the white board of all macroinvertebrates present before the
game begins. Explain that this represents the population at POINT A (a site
upstream). Ask students what they think could changes the #s and kinds of
macroinvertebrates in the stream.
Then, tell the students that they will play the game at POINT B in the stream
(a site downstream from POINT A). Compare tallies before and after each game.
Ask students how they would explain the change in #s (agricultural runoff…)
Center C: What can influence water quality within a watershed?
Essential Questions:
- What factors can influence water quality?
- How can those factors influence the number and kind of organisms that live
there?
Overview:
Students determine the pH,
dissolved oxygen, nitrogen levels, and temperature at two different sites along
a stream. Students consider the changes and predict possible reasons for the
changes. In the EXPLAIN phase, students will use the data acquired at the
EXPLORE centers to develop evidence-based explonations.
Lesson Details
Ask:
What factors in the water can influence how animals and plants survive?
How can these factors change from various locations along a stream?
What do you think can cause these changes?
Temperature
– animals and plants can
only live in temperatures that allow them to function well. Too hot and too cold
temperatures can cause animals and plants to migrate or die.
pH – tells how acidic or basic water is. If water gets too acidic or
too basic, some animals and plants can’t survive in it.
Dissolved Oxygen – oxygen in the water allows fish and underwater
insects to breath. Some oxygen from the air dissolves in water. Plants also
release oxygen into the water. Some animals like mosquito larva do really well
with low amounts of water. Trout and mayflies need a lot of oxygen to survive.
This is the best indicator of water quality.
Nitrogen –When soil and fertilizer is washed into a stream, the
nitrogen in it causes plants to grow very fast. The plants grow fast and die.
Because of this, plants won’t be there to make oxygen, and bacteria that eat
the dead plants will use up the oxygen, affecting animals that need it.
Set up "two sites along the stream" in the classroom, POINT A is
upstream from POINT B
. Investigate the
question: What is the difference in water quality between samples taken at Point
A (upstream) and Point B (downstream)? What could be the reasons for these
differences?
Discussion
:
- What were the difference between the temperature, pH, DO, nitrogen at the
two sites, A and B?
- Why do you think this happened? You will have the opportunity to JUSTIFY
your ideas at the EXPLAIN phase.
EXPLAIN: Learners develop explanations that represent their understandings of
target concepts.
Using the packets of information provided and any relevant web sites, answer
the following questions:
- How does the pH affect the water quality within a stream in a
watershed?
- Why does pH change from Point A (upstream) to Point B (downstream)?
- How does the presence of ammonia affect the water quality within a
stream in a watershed?
- Why does the ammonia change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?
- How does the Dissolved Oxygen affect the water quality within a
stream in a watershed?
- Why does the Dissolved Oxygen change from Point A (upstream) to
Point B (downstream)?
- How does the nitrate affect the water quality within a stream in a
watershed?
- Why does the nitrate change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?
- How does the temperature affect the water quality within a stream
in a watershed?
- Why does the temperature change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?
ELABORATE: Learners apply understandings to a new situation
EVALUATE: Learners review and assess what they have learned and how they have
learned
it.
SUM OF ITS PARTS: (*THIS SECTION OF THE LESSON MIGHT BE CONTINUED
DURING THE EVALUTATION PHASE!)
Problems Solved Discussion: Discuss the BMPs sheet with students, having
students identify the land use they chose for their section of river front
property and how they might lessen their impact on the water quality of the
river.
Questions / Assessment:
- Have students refer to their evidence collected in the lesson to critique
their original drawings.
- Would you make any changes to your drawings? WHY OR WHY NOT?
- What changes could you make to create a data table more representative of
treating the environment with more respect?
- Identify two spots at the beginning of the stream (label it C) running
through your poster and a spot at the end of your poster (label it D).
Consider what you have constructed in between Points C and D. If you feel
like it, MAKE AN ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE CHANGE in your drawing. THEN,
predict results that you think might appear on a reliable data table.
Explain your results using the resource materials in the EXPLAIN phase.
OPTIONAL - Have students:
- Research regulations governing waterfront property in their communities.
- Go for a walk along a waterway. Identify point and nonpoint sources of
water pollution observed on the walk.
SECTION FOUR: Reflection
Generate two claims about EACH of the following:
- Your own learning as a teacher (i.e., how the experience informed your
thinking of teaching and learning science, how the experience influenced
your personal science teaching philosophy, your approaches, teaching
methods, strategies and techniques,...)
- Students’ science learning and how you, as a teacher, can support that
(i.e., how students learn best, their abilities, needs, motivations,
interests,...)
- Teaching and learning science as inquiry (i.e., refer to the essential
elements of inquiry, connections of theories with practices, applications in
different classroom settings,...)
MY WATERSHED JOURNAL!
HOW DO HUMANS AFFECT WATERSHEDS?
ENGAGE
Brainstorming:
Write down
everything you know about a watershed:
Shake it up Baby?!
How does soil get into water?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Do other materials get into soil? Where do these materials come
from?_______________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Do humans play a role in changing the amount and kind of materials that get
into water? How?________________________________
____________________________________________________
Watch THE LORAX
in Large Group
and complete attached sheet!
State Parks Guest Speaker: Heidi Boyle - Sum of the Parts (point and
nonpoint source pollution):
How did students in the middle or the end of the river feel about the
pollution that was passed to them?__________________________
____________________________________________________
Is anyone seeing potential changes they would make with their property use
plans? What are they?_________________________
____________________________________________________
Can a person downstream be affected by the actions of an upstream
person?______________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Can a person upstream alter the water quality of those downstream?
____________________________________________________
Center A: What is a watershed?
Draw the watersheds and label important features from each of the three
watershed models:
A1:
A2:
A3:
Center B: What lives in a watershed: Macroinvertebrate Mayhem
POINT A (UPSTREAM from POINT B): Types and #s of macroinvertebrates:
POINT B (DOWNSTREAM from POINT A): Types and #s of macroinvertebrates:
How would you explain the change in numbers?_________________
Center C: What can influence water quality within a watershed?
STREAM DATA CHART
|
Test |
A (Upstream) |
B (Downstream) |
C |
D |
|
PH
|
|
|
|
|
|
pH probe
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ammonia
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nitrate (nitrogen)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Temperature (probe)
|
|
|
|
|
EXPLAIN: Learners develop explanations that represent their understandings of
target concepts.
Using the packets of information provided and any relevant web sites, answer
the following questions:
- How does the pH affect the water quality within a stream in a
watershed?___________________________________________
Why does pH change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?_________________________________________
How does the presence of ammonia affect the water quality within a
stream in a watershed?__________________________________
Why does the ammonia change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?_________________________________________
How does the Dissolved Oxygen affect the water quality within a
stream in a watershed?__________________________________
Why does the Dissolved Oxygen change from Point A (upstream) to Point
B (downstream)?___________________________________
How does the nitrate affect the water quality within a stream in a
watershed?___________________________________________
Why does the nitrate change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?_________________________________________
How does the temperature affect the water quality within a stream in
a watershed?________________________________________
Why does the temperature change from Point A (upstream) to Point B
(downstream)?_______________________________________
ELABORATE / EVALUATE:
What change would you like to make in your drawing? WHY?_____
What changes do you predict would occur in your data table at C and D? (see
data table above) Explain WHY for each factor:
pH ___________________________________________________
Ammonia ______________________________________________
DO __________________________________________________
Nitrate________________________________________________
Temperature__________________________________________