Thursday 22 August 2013

Water Systems Resources

     Here is the LAST resources post for my series of resources for the Grade 8 Science curriculum. With school starting right around the corner, I hope you can find these resources useful! If you missed my posts for the first three units of study, visit the following posts:
- Fluids
Water Cycle Song. (2011). Uploaded to YouTube by Mr. Parr. Available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3BVa7PH_JE

     I really enjoyed planning out this unit for two reasons: I have a Geography minor and our province has experienced drastic flooding over the past few years. I love teaching about subjects that have direct ties to our community and have planned a few neat field trips for this unit.

Intro to Water Systems
Enduring Understanding: The global water system is essential for all life on Earth; from plant and animal life to geography and human relations.
8-4-01     Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of water
                systems.                      
                Include: heat capacity, fresh water, salt water, convection, Coriolis effect,
                global water cycle, drainage system, watershed, continental divide,
                erosion, deposition, flow rate, tides, terms related to water treatment.
8-4-02     Demonstrate that water, as compared to other substances, has a high heat
                capacity and is able to dissolve a wide variety of solutes.
8-4-03     Compare and contrast characteristics and properties of fresh water and salt
                water.
8-4-04     Identify factors that work individuals or in combination to affect ocean
                currents.
                Include: convection, Coriolis effect, prevailing winds, position of
                continents.
8-4-05     Describe how the heat capacity of large bodies of water and the movement
                of ocean currents influence regional climates.
8-4-06     Describe the components of the global water cycle and explain how it
                works.

Drainage Systems, Erosion & Deposition
Enduring Understanding: The movement of water across the face of the Earth affects the respective geography.
8-4-07     Describe features of the North American drainage system.
                Include: local and regional watersheds, direction of water flow,
                continental divide.
8-4-08     Describe how erosion and deposition are influenced by the flow rate of a
                stream or river, and contrast the related characteristics of young and
                mature streams.
8-4-09     Describe how wave action and ice movement in large bodies of water
                cause erosion and deposition.
8-4-10     Explain how tides are caused and describe their effects on shorelines.
8-4-11     Describe examples of human interventions to prevent riverbank or coastal
                erosion.
8-4-12     Identify factors that can cause flooding either individually or in
                combination.
8-4-13     Provide examples of the way in which technology is used to contain or
                prevent damage due to flooding, and discuss related positive and negative
                 impacts.

Water Treatment
Enduring Understanding: Knowledge and understanding of the global water system has improved water treatment, lessened pollution, and affected human standard of life.
8-4-14     Identify sources of drinking water and describe methods for obtaining
                water in areas where supply is limited.
8-4-15     Explain how and why water may need to be treated for use by humans.

                Include: filtration, settling, chlorination, fluoridation.
8-4-16     Compare the waste-water disposal system within their communities to one
                used elsewhere.
                Include: process involved, environmental impact, cost.
8-4-17     Identify substances that may pollute water, related environmental and
                societal impacts of pollution, and ways to reduce or eliminate effects of
                pollution.
8-4-18     Identify environmental, social, and economic factors that should be
                considered in the management of water resources.
8-4-19     Use the design process to develop a system to solve a water-related
                problem.
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     In addition to hard-copy resources I have available in the school and from colleagues, I also started to organize some online resources to supplement our classroom activities. Here are the resources I found, organized by the themes I stated above. For each one I've included the title, a very brief point about what it includes, and the link. 

Intro to Water Systems

Water Cycle Song
- Musical Review Option
- Sang to Give Me Everything Tonight: Pitbull

Imagine All The Water
- Good interactive showing how much water is used in different everyday items

Tides Song
- Musical Review Option
- Sang to The Other Side: Jason Derulo

Tides & Sea Levels
- Interactive, wave levels, water changes, etc

Ocean Currents Song
- Musical Review Option
- Sang to Kiss You: One Direction

Groundwater Interactive
- Good for large group SMART Board activity
- Compares groundwater in wet and dry periods
- Good before moving into Floods discussion

Water Cycle Interactive
- Good questions and images
- Good for large group SMART Board activity
- Don’t like the voice over

Drainage Systems, Erosion & Deposition

Floods Song
- Musical Review Option
- Sang to So Good: B.o.B

Physical Geography - Running Water: How it Erodes & Deposits
- Documentary piece, discusses different types of flow
- 3 mins

Rain and Weathering Interactive
- Good for a large-group SMART Board activity

Manitoba Flooding CBC News Video
- Breaching the Portage la Prairie dike
- 5 mins

Brandon Flooding Video
- Good video and commentary
- Some inappropriate language, use discretion
- 9 mins

Flooding Interactive
- Good for a large-group SMART Board activity

Sheppard Software Canadian Games
- Games about Canada’s rivers, lakes, and oceans
- Good for if students are done early

Manitoba Flood Facts
- Fact sheet and bar graph of average vs. flood levels

Water Treatment

Water Changes Everything
- Video on the effects clean water has on communities and standard of living
- 3 mins

Drinking From The Sea: Desalination
- 2 min video explain desalination

World Water Day Image Gallery
- Images from around the world
- Good to get students thinking or to add into PowerPoint presentations

Downloadable Information Sheets
- Features information on various countries in need of clean water resources
- Features information on various water related issues like sanitation, poverty, advocacy

Simple Solution for Clean Water
- Water Treatment technology from University of Alberta
- 3 mins

Safe Drinking Water Atlas
- See water issues around the world
- Flash interactive
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I hope you find these resources as awesome as I do! 
If there is something you think I should add to my list let me know, I'd love to hear about the awesome things you are using with your class :)

2 comments:

  1. Great point Lisa! In the last portion of the unit on Water Treatment we discuss water filtration(8-4-15). I plan on having a debate on some of the most common filtration systems on the market.

    ReplyDelete

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