Learning Exercise
Personal Water Use Investigation
Students follow the steps of the scientific method to investigate water usage. There is an important collaborative component to this assignment, as upon completion of the experiment, students upload their data to the project website and can then compare their own water use averages with the averages of classes from around the world.
Course: Earth Science
- Material:
- Down the Drain: How Much Water Do You Use?
- Date last modified:
- June 30, 2005
- Created by:
- Erica Cardey
- License:
-
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Students collect data on their personal water use as well as the use of water by people around them. They then use that... see more
Exercise
Complete instructions for this collaborative project can be found using the link
provided. Here is a brief overview of how to conduct this collaborative
investigation:
I take one day to discuss water usage, how much water is actually in a gallon,
and to assign the water use project. The website contains helpful details as to
the best way to accomplish this. At the end of this discussion, students develop
their own hypothesis about water use, then make a prediction based upon their
hypothesis (again, notes and examples on the website are very helpful).
Distribute the personal water use chart (available in .pdf format on the site).
Students will use this chart to track their own water use for one week. Students
can also track household water use for a more in-depth investigation if
desired.
At the end of one week, students submit their data to the website. The website
automatically calculates the average daily water usage for the class. Once this
information is posted to the site, students can view their data and compare
their water use averages with averages from science classes from all over the
world.
provided. Here is a brief overview of how to conduct this collaborative
investigation:
I take one day to discuss water usage, how much water is actually in a gallon,
and to assign the water use project. The website contains helpful details as to
the best way to accomplish this. At the end of this discussion, students develop
their own hypothesis about water use, then make a prediction based upon their
hypothesis (again, notes and examples on the website are very helpful).
Distribute the personal water use chart (available in .pdf format on the site).
Students will use this chart to track their own water use for one week. Students
can also track household water use for a more in-depth investigation if
desired.
At the end of one week, students submit their data to the website. The website
automatically calculates the average daily water usage for the class. Once this
information is posted to the site, students can view their data and compare
their water use averages with averages from science classes from all over the
world.