Nevada Water

In this unit, students use graphing and visualization activities to consider the proportion of fresh water and salt water on Earth and consider why our water sources require protection. They then model the hydrosphere and how it flows between different reservoirs as it interacts with the atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere, focusing on their local watersheds in Nevada. Students take an interdisciplinary approach to investigate scientific ideas about water management and communicate about them, developing literature and math skills along with meeting science standards.  

Hands-on Activities: 

• Water Cycle Game: On a game board simulating Nevada ecosystems, students model how water moves between the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere in a normal year vs a drought year.  

• Watercolor watershed: Students identify places important to them, near them, or that they have visited, and explore various art making materials to create their own water cycle map. 

• Runoff model: Students use wax paper to model how runoff following precipitation leads to the formation of bodies of water.  

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

5-ESS2-2 • 5-ESS2-1 • 5-ESS3-1