In this activity, students consider how their school fits into the water cycle. Students make observations and then map:
- where water goes (or stays) when it rains on the school grounds
- where and how the school gets its freshwater supply
- where stormwater from the school’s roofs and immediate catchment area goes
- where wastewater from the school goes.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- make observations about how their local environment is part of the global water cycle
- make observations about the role of elevation in where rainwater runs off and pools
- make observations about surface permeability and infiltration
- identify the source of the school’s freshwater supply
- discuss how the school deals with stormwater and wastewater
- choose a starting point and track the movement of an imaginary water drop in the school environment
- use online mapping tools to investigate water treatment intakes and wastewater treatment outputs (optional).
Download the Word file (see link below).
Activity idea
After learning about water in your local area, learn about water in your wider catchment with Mapping my local water catchment.
Acknowledgement
This article has been developed in partnership with the Waikato Regional Council as part of the Rivers and Us resource.
