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Our Runoff

Unit Plan: Broken Water CycleTime: 2 class periods Setting: Schoolyard and Classroom
6-8, 9-12Water & Watersheds
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Objectives

Student collect data about their schoolyard, neighborhood and town to estimate the amount of water that runs off these places into a nearby stream.

Overview
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Students begin at the smallest scale, their schoolyard, and learn about permeable and impermeable surfaces (older students might not need this introduction). Then, through a homework assignment, students consider what happens to rain that falls on their neighborhood. Finally, students use aerial images (from Google Earth) to estimate the total annual runoff of their town or city.

Materials

Infiltration Investigation

  • One bucket/ group of 5 or so students filled with water
  • One 2-3 cup measuring cup/ group
  • Infiltration investigation data sheet with map of your school (download below)

Homework assignment

  • "Mapping Your Neighborhood" homework assignment (download below)

Runoff calculation of town/city

  • Two copies of an aerial image of a town or city (can be easily saved and printed from Google Earth) cut into 4 pieces
  • Eight transparency grids
  • Dry or wet erase markers of various colors
  • Runoff worksheet for appropriate grade (download below)
     

Infiltration Investigation

  1. Using a map of your school and schoolyard, trace a simple map and photocopy over the existing map on the Infiltration Investigation worksheet.
  2. In groups of 5 or so students,  head outside and have them choose 3 cover types in the schoolyard
  3. Ask them to predict what will happen when the group pours 2 cups of water on each cover type.
  4. Pour the same amount of water on each cover type and have them describe what actually happened.
  5. Have them create a legend of their cover types and color in the schoolyard map. Depending on the most dominant cover type, they can answer the question in the text box. 
  6. Introduce the terms "permeable" and "impermeable".
  7. Give them the neighborhood mapping homework assignment to reinforce this investigation.

Runoff calculation of town/city

  1. Print 2 copies of a map of your town, city or village. If possible, print on 11x17 sized paper. Cut each map into 4. 
  2. Give one quarter of the map to a group of 2 to 3 students.
  3. Ask them to place their transparency grid over the map and mark permeable and impermeable squares with 2 different colors. If a square has both cover types, have them color it with the cover type that dominates that square.
  4. When completed, have them add up the squares for each color
  5. Depending on their math skills, students can calculate volume of runoff in a number of different ways. Refer to the grade-specific worksheet (below) for details.

Lesson Files

pdf
Infiltration Data
pdf
Mapping the Neighborhood
pdf
Runoff Worksheet (lower elementary)
pdf
Runoff Worksheet (high school)
pdf
Runoff Worksheet (upper elementary)

Benchmarks for Science Literacy

2C Mathematical Inquiry, 5E Flow of Matter and Energy

NYS Standards

MST 1 - Mathematical analysis, scientific inquiry, and engineering design, MST 3- Mathematics in real-world settings, MST 4- Physical setting, living environment and nature of science
Next Generation Science Standards

Science and Engineering Practices

Asking questions and defining problems, Planning and carrying out investigations