All the Water in the World
Learning Targets:
- I will be able to analyze fractions/percentages by using manipulatives and creating a physical representation of the water in the world.
- I will be able to recognize that there is a lot of water in the world, but not very much of it can be used for drinking water and other water supply needs.
Procedure:
- Have students identify different lakes, rivers, and oceans on the globe. Discuss the definition of surface waters.
- Identify which bodies of water are fresh vs salt water- you can do this by creating a color coded map and/or having students independently choose how they are going to represent fresh vs salt water.
- Use manipulatives to help show physically how water is dispersed. Analyze the different percentages for what water is available to drink
- Use 100 ziti pieces to represent 100% of the water in the world.
- Color 2 green, 1 red and the rest blue. Green represents ice in glaciers, red represents fresh water available to humans, plants, and animals.
- Have students identify the percentages/fractions of water that is available to humans
- Have students create a pie chart to show the fractions of water. Students can also make bar graphs etc.
Follow Up Questions
- Why isn’t all fresh water usable?
- Some is not easy to get at. It may be frozen or trapped in unyielding soils or bedrock fractures. Some water is too polluted to use.
- Why do we need to take care of surface water and groundwater?
- Water is very important for humans, plants and crops, and animals. If we waste water or pollute it, we may find that there is less and less of it available for us to use.
- Water is very important for humans, plants and crops, and animals. If we waste water or pollute it, we may find that there is less and less of it available for us to use.