Freshwater

Learning Module

Clean water is one of Earth's most important natural resources. All the planet's organisms need water. Check out this Distance Learning Module to learn even more about freshwater and why it is important!

Below you will find links to videos, experiments, and articles on all things freshwater. If you would like to complete the entire module - it will take about a month. If you are looking for a more focused lesson, the module includes four main units: The Water Cycle, Watersheds, Animals and Plants in Freshwater, and Water Issues. Follow the links below for activities and more within each section.

If you'd like to show these videos in their entirety, rather than the clips provided for each unit below, you can access the full videos at FreshWaterLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure. Freshwater LIVE also has links to other activities, lesson plans, and resources. 

Introduction to Freshwater:

• Build Your Own Rain Gauge - Start this month long experiment featured in our Natural IQ edition

Materials needed: five 2-liter bottles, scissors, duct tape, ruler, permanent marker, pebbles, water, and a notebook

The Water Cycle:

This sub unit includes activities that should take about three days to complete. 

Part One (1 to 1 1/2 hours):

• Watch the introduction to Freshwater Live

• Watch this clip about the Water Cycle                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
• Read "Under Where?" from our Freshwater edition                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
• Answer the reflection section questions found in the article - review your answers here                                                            .                
• Build a Water Cycle Cube - complete the FACTivity in "Under Where?"                                                                                        .
• Write a story about a water dropelt's progress through the water cycle 

Materials needed: Water cycle cube (template provided in FACTivity), paper, pencils, scissors, tape or glue

Part Two: (2 days, 1 hour for set up, 1 day of waiting to collect data):

• Read "Flow Down" from our Natural IQ edition                                                                                                       .

• Answer the reflection section question found in the article                                                                                                       .
• Complete the alternate FACTivity from "Under Where?" - compare a house plant's and an indoor plant's use of water

Materials needed: potted house plant, saucer, small plastic bag, water, paper, pencil

Watersheds:

This sub unit includes activities that should take 4-5 days to complete.

Part One (2 hours):

• Watch this clip on Watersheds and Drainage Divides (2:18 min)

• Watch this clip on how Forests Keep Watersheds Healthy (2:03 min)                                               .

• Read "Green Means Clean" from our Freshwater edition about conducting a national assesment of U.S drinking watershed quality                                                                                                                                                      .

• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here                                                                         .
• Complete the FACTivity from "Green Means Clean" to determine which land cover surface best protects water quality 

Materials needed: 3 paint roller pans, a shovel, kitchen oil, 2 gallons of water in plastic jugs, a garden sprinkler can, red/blue food coloring

Part Two (1 to 1 1/2 hours):

• Read "Caribbean Cruise" from our Freshwater NI about course particulate organic matter in streams over time                                                                                                                                                                                               
• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here                                                                           
• Complete the FACTivity from "Caribbean Cruise" and determine what you can learn from gage height and stream flow data overtime 

Materials needed: a pencil and gragh paper

Part Three (2 to 3 hours):

• Read "Did They Make the Gradient?" from our Cimate Change NI about what factors affect stream temperatures                      .           
• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here                                                                           .              
• Complete the FACTivity from "Did They Make the Gradient?" to test whether the movement of water affets its temperature

Materials needed:  3 clear 1-quart plastic containers, 2 aquarium thermometers 

Part Four (10 minutes):

• Watch two clips from Freshwater Live to wrap up on watersheds
  • South Platte Watershed (4:04 min)
  • Chesapeake Bay Watershed (2:36 min)

Animals & Plants in Freshwater:

This sub unit includes activities that should take about 4 days to complete.

Part One (1 to 1 1/2 hours):

• Watch these clips from Freshwater Live
  • Indicators of a Healthy Watershed (3:12 mins)
  • The Last Dragons: Hellbenders (3:15 mins)
  • Trout in the Classroom (2:24 mins)
  • Freshwater Provides Recreational Opportunities (3:57 mins)                                                                                            .
• Read "Timed Travel" from our Freshwater NI about how stream temperatures affect the developement of Chinook salmon                                                                                                                                                                                           .
• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here                                                                          
• Answer this dicussion/writing prompt: How are the data from "Timed Travel" and "Did They Make the Gradient?" related? What conclusions can we hypothesize about stream conditions and the ecosystem? What other species might be affected by the stream temperatures and how?

Part Two (1 to 1 1/2 hours):

• Read "Toad-ally Awesome" from our Ecosystem Services NI about how flooding affects the reproduction of toads along the Rio Grande                                                                                                                                                                               
• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here                                                                              
• Brainstorm a list of ecosystem services or benefits provided by waterways. Then research waterways in your area and identify how those waterways affect the plants and animals living near them.

• Read "Knocked Out by Trout" from our Invasive Species NI about how nonnative trout in stocked lakes affect the local tree frog population                                                                                                                                                                         
• Complete the FACTivity in "Knocked out by Trout" to research and debate whether lakes and streams should be stocked, modify lesson for the number of students necessary 

Part Four (1 1/2 to 2 hours):

• Read "Swimming Upstream" from our Tropical NI about how to balance needs of shrimp and people in tropical streams, especially regarding dam-building                                                                                                                                                  
• Answer the reflection section questions as you read                                                                                                                       
• Complete the FACTivity in "Swimming Upstream" to model how river shrimp get caught in pipes or escape downstream 

Water Issues:

This sub unit includes activities that should take about 2 to 3 days to complete.

Part One (1 1/2 to 2 hours):

• Watch these clips from Freshwater Live to introduce some of the water issues facing us today
  • How Students Help Conserve Water (2:01 mins)
  • Tour of a Water Treatment Facility (3:02 mins)

• Read the "Full Throttle Model" monograph about modeling changes to land use within watersheds to help identify and prioritize watersheds with low water quality which need restoration 

• Answer the reflection section questions as you read - review your answers here

• Complete the FACTivity in the "Full Throttle Model" and create a model to study how fish might react to water turbidity

Conclusion to Freshwater:

• Conclude the rain gauge FACTivity
• Complete the Final Assesment for this module (can be used at the end of the whole module or the end of the sub-units)