Introduces basic mathematical principles related to drinking water distribution and treatment systems and wastewater treatment plants; including areas, volumes, pressure, flow rates, unit conversion, chemical dosage, detention time, and filtration rates. Focuses on mathematical computations within the expected range of knowledge on the State Water Resources Control Board exams for Drinking Water Distribution 1 and 2, Drinking Water Treatment 1 and 2, and Wastewater Treatment 1 and 2 (California).

Make waves with a dripping faucet, audio speaker, or laser! Add a second source or a pair of slits to create an interference pattern.

Students are presented with the concepts of wetting and contact angle. They are also introduced to the distinction between hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. Students observe how different surfaces are used to maintain visibility under different conditions.

In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.

Students learn about physical models of groundwater and how environmental engineers determine possible sites for drinking water wells. During the activity, students create their own groundwater well models using coffee cans and wire screening. They add red food coloring to their models to see how pollutants can migrate through the groundwater into a drinking water resource.

In this activity, students use models to investigate the process and consequences of water contamination on the land, groundwater, and plants. This is a good introduction to building water filters found in the associated activity, The Dirty Water Project.

Every step we take is in a watershed. Let's learn more about them! Check out the Stream Restoration Coordinator video to learn how scientists help improve stream health. Then, in the Discovery Challenge video, observe, investigate, and record information about your watershed from a distance and then really close up . Then, after learning a little more about watersheds, we will create models of watersheds and use those models to investigate how soil and chemicals might move through our watersheds.

This lesson introduces NGSS standards, and those standards are listed in the lesson and is part of the Explore Science Club series, an online Career Connected Learning program developed by the Greater Oregon STEM Hub. To learn more find us at: www.go-stem.org.

How does our climate affect us? How do we decide what to wear each day? What factors determine if our clothing choices are comfortable? What is the source of our water? Students explore characteristics that define climatic regions. They learn how tropical, desert, coastal and alpine climates result in different lifestyle, clothing, water source and food options for the people who live there. They learn that a location's latitude, altitude, land features, weather conditions, and distance from large bodies of water, determines its climate. Students discuss how engineers help us adapt to all climates by designing clothing, shelters, weather technologies and clean water systems.

Students will learn about where different types of food come from, why nutrition is important, and how to grow their own food. Students will also learn the basic conditions required for plants to grow, and the importance of human action in maintaining the availability of these conditions.

Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation. Once a dam is constructed, its reservoir becomes a part of the region's natural hydrologic cycle by receiving precipitation, storing runoff water and evaporating water. Although almost impossible to see, and not as familiar to most people as precipitation, evaporation plays a critical role in the hydrologic cycle, and is especially of interest to engineers designing new dams and reservoirs, such as those that Splash Engineering is designing for Thirsty County.

In this video segment from Planet H20: Water World, experts and teens inside and outside the Great Lakes watershed provide different perspectives on sharing the water from one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world.

Drinking water comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. Environmental engineers analyze the physical properties of groundwater to predict how and where surface contaminants will travel. In this lesson, students will learn about several possible scenarios of contamination to drinking water. They will analyze the movement of example contaminants through groundwater such as environmental engineers must do (i.e., engineers identify and analyze existing contamination of water sources in order to produce high quality drinking water for consumers).

Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential benefits, which include water supply, electricity generation, flood control, recreation and irrigation. This lesson begins an ongoing classroom scenario in which student engineering teams working for the Splash Engineering firm design dams for a fictitious client, Thirsty County.

Water is a special substance for several reasons, and you may have noticed an important one right in your cold drink: ice. Solid ice floats in liquid water, which isn't true for most substances. But why? George Zaidan and Charles Morton explain the science behind how how hydrogen bonds keep the ice in your glass (and the polar ice caps) afloat.

WhyReef is a virtual reef where boys and girls from all over the world can dive into a virtual coral reef and discover the amazing marine life that dwells within. Become coral reef scientists and keep track of fish, coral, turtles, and other reef creatures!

This activity is an in-class experiment where students predict, observe, and summarize what will happen when ice melts in a cup of water.

This lesson will help students understand how to work as a forensic meterologist. Students will watch a short video of an area experiencing increased weather and storms. Through the use of prompts, students will be able to create a model of what they think is happening and then use that pre-model in other lessons to figure out how water and heat from the sun increase stroms. 

In this problem set, students learn about rainfall rates and how to convert them into the volume of water that falls.

This activity focuses on getting students to think about bacteria, water quality and water treatment processes. Students develop and test their hypotheses about the "cleanliness" of three water samples prepared by the teacher. Then they grow bacteria in Petri dishes from the water samples. They learn how private septic systems and community sewage and wastewater treatment plants work, the consequences to the surrounding environment and wildlife from human wastewater, and what measurements of the released "clean" water are monitored to minimize harm to receiving rivers and lakes.

This unit introduces children to a number of concepts related to water. First, students activate and build on prior knowledge as they explore various places where water is found (e.g., lakes, rivers, swimming pools). In the second lesson, students differentiate between water found naturally (e.g., a lake) and artificially (e.g., a swimming pool). The third lesson focuses on the uses of water and its importance for human life. Next, students learn about the various states (solid, liquid, gas) that water can be found in. In the final lesson, students learn what people can do to conserve water and care for this natural resource. Throughout the lessons, students are exposed to songs and books about water. The unit culminates with as assessment that asks pairs of students to create a nonfiction question-and-answer book about a specific representation of water. Description of the assessment task with an optional technological application is also included.