The drought causes conservation

The students will use their knowledge of the importance of water to learn about the hydrosphere. The drought being experienced will be explored through graphs and a personal plan for water conservation.

A lesson plan for grade 8 English Language Arts and Science

By Linda Cummer

Learn more

• EPA discussion of pollution from runoff for kids
• USGS water science for schools
• Use it Wisely tips for water conservation

Related pages

• Observing the water cycle: Initially, students will observe a demonstration of the water cycle and apply the information gained through the demonstration. Then students will measure and graph rainfall for two weeks.
• Intrigue of the Past: Teach your students about North Carolina's fascinating past. This edition contains lesson plans about the fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, as well as essays for the teacher with detailed information about four periods in North Carolina's ancient history.
• Weathering the water cycle: Evaporation: Students will learn that evaporation is one of the three stages of the water cycle. The other three lessons in this series on condensation, precipitation, and the water cycle will allow the students to explore all stages.

Related topics

• Learn more about conservation, drought, environmental science, graphing, science, water, and water cycle.

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Learning outcomes

Goals

• Students will produce graphs to show the average rainfall for a year compared to the actual rainfall for the year.
• Students will list the effects of the drought on their city, county and/or state.

Objectives

• Students will diagram the water cycle.
• Students will formulate a water conservation plan for personal use at home.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

5–10 days

Materials/resources

• portfolio or journal
• pen and/or pencil
• graph paper
• notebook paper
• plain paper

Technology resources

• computer with internet connection for each student, if possible

Pre-activities

• Math: Students need to use knowledge of graphs, ratios, decimals, and percents.
• Science: Students have an understanding of the importance of water and its uses.
• Technology: Students have knowledge of how to access the internet.
• Pre-Assignment: Students will collect and bring to class newspaper and/or magazine articles, and handwritten information seen on television or heard on radio about the drought.

Activities

Day 1

On paper, individually brainstorm ways in which water is used. Then share these ideas as a group and record on the board or overhead. Distribute copies of “Surf and Sand Count” and explain how to complete. Discuss once completed. Next, demonstrate “A Look at our Earth” to class. Have students complete pie graph/Earth as an Apple (attachment called “earth apple”). Students should write down all the steps of the demonstration cutting the apple that represents the earth. They should complete the graph either in class, if time, or as a homework assignment.

Day 2

As class begins, view the iMovie “drought”. Pose questions about the video and what it is saying about water and conservation. In the computer lab, or with access to computers for pairs or groups of students, the students will research the water cycle. They should draw their own diagram of the process for reference. Discuss how this cycle applies in different areas such as desert, grassland, ocean areas, etc. The types of water (salt, fresh) should be explained. Discuss how they are different and the importance of each type. List sources of water in your area that would fuel the water cycle in your region. In the portfolio or journal, the students should reproduce the water cycle for their region using the information discussed about water sources nearby.

Day 3

Review and reflect on the water cycle diagrams drawn the previous class. Today the focus will be to access drought information on the internet. My class will use the North Carolina Division of Water Resources web site. Students should take notes in their portfolios or journals on the information found on the internet. Using the local TV station website, gather yearly average rainfall for the region and actual rainfall amounts over the past year. Using this information, the students will produce a double bar graph comparing the amounts. Show several examples of double bar graphs for the students to use for reference. These bar graphs will be turned in at a later date as part of the assessment of the student’s learning.

Day 4

Students will again use the internet as a resource to help them formulate their water conservation plan for use at home. In addition to websites included in this lesson, using a search engine with “conservation” as the search word will bring up many places for the students to find tips to use in their plans. The students should be told to use several resources and to reference each one in writing on their finished plans. The plans should include 8–10 simple things they can do at home to help save water. They are to use their creativity in presenting their plans. Some ideas they may use are: brochures, posters, booklets, etc. The plans will be shared with the class on the date they are due.

Day 5

This class time will be spent making sure the students are aware that they will be graded on their water conservation plans and the double bar graphs showing the comparison between the average rainfall for a typical year and the actual amount of rainfall in the area for the past twelve months. The rubrics for each assignment should be given to each student at this time. The completion date should again be clarified at this time.

Assessment

Rubrics will be used for assessment of the assignments.

Rubric for the Water Conservation Plan:

• 4 Points—The plan is clearly worded and easily followed. Creativity is evident in the presentation. Sources are referenced. Ten steps for conservation are included. The final product is neat, clean, and all words are spelled correctly. Illustrations are present for each step.
• 3 Points—The plan is clear, easy to understand, and creative. Either eight or nine steps are present. Product is neat, clean, and most of the words are spelled correctly. Some illustrations are present.
• 2 Points—The plan is neither clearly stated nor easy to understand. Less than eight steps are given. Words are misspelled. Product is messy and may look “thrown together.” Few or no illustrations are present.
• 1 Point—Plan is either not completed or does not meet minimum requirements.

Rubric for the Double Bar Graph:

• 4 Points—graph is labeled correctly with a title present. Information is correct and referenced. Graph is easily read and color coded. There is a written interpretation of the information presented. The graph is neat and all words are spelled correctly.
• 3 Points—graph is labeled and has a title. The information given is correct and referenced. Graph is somewhat easy to read with the colors explained. The written explanation is basically clear and understandable. The graph is neat and most words are spelled correctly.
• 2 Points—graph has a title but labels may be unclear or incomplete. Information is not completely correct, and there are no references listed. Graph may be hard to interpret. There is either an incomplete explanation or none at all. Graph may appear sloppy or rushed.
• 1 Point—graph is either not present or doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.