*blue text indicates instructor comments *purple text indicates my revisions and responses to comments Lesson Plan Water

r Pollution [Adapted from Utah State University Water Quality Extension] 4th Grade Powel Elementary School Goals/Objectives: SWBAT explain how water pollution is caused by human activities SWBAT describe how water pollution affects the condition of rivers and lakes, with damaging effects on other species and human health SWBAT generate their own ideas about how communities can protect Earths resources and environments SWBAT graph and interpret data to draw conclusions SWBAT use models to understand a larger phenomenon Standards: Frameworks o Disciplinary Core Ideas Earth and Space Sciences ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems o Science Practices 2: Developing and Using Models 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data 8: Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information o Crosscutting Concepts Cause and Effect PA State Standards: Science and Technology and Engineering Education o Standard Area 3.1: Biological Sciences o Assessment Anchor S4.A.1: Reasoning and Analysis o Anchor Descriptor S4.A.1.3: Recognize and describe change in natural or human-made systems and the possible effects of those changes Materials and Preparation: Two Ziploc bags filled with Skittles (with proportions of each color reflecting the types of pollutants found in hypothetical water sample) I am curious about which color you are using for what. This information will also be useful to you if you ever go back to this lesson and want to remember exactly how you did it. Sorry, just found it in the pollutant chart! One black plastic cup of water in which Skittles have been sitting and lost their color One clear plastic cup Pollutant chart (see attached) Line plot paper Students Writing Notebooks Chart paper and markers Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues: Small group of four students at the round meeting table (the rest of the class will be at their afternoon special during this time)

o The small group arrangement at the round meeting table was chosen to encourage active participation by all students and facilitate meaningful discussion among group members. o Students will be split into two groups of two when engaging with Skittles model so that we will have two groups of data to compare Materials will be laid out on table for students to take as needed during lesson Management concerns students not being respectful of one another (i.e. speaking out of turn); students touching materials before asked, eating Skittles (Maybe at the end?) o Addressing these concerns lay out expectations at the beginning Listen to all directions before you begin You dont have to raise your hand, but one person will speak at a time Skittles to eat will be handed out at the end of the lesson (We are clearly all on the same page!)

Plan: The Hook (10 minutes) o Activating and charting prior knowledge students share one thing they remember from Waterworks, one thing from Need in Deed neighborhood walk What kind of pollution did you see at Waterworks and on our neighborhood walk? Do you think that could be harmful to animals or humans in some way? (see accommodations if students struggle) The Body (20 minutes) o Pass out and discuss chart of different pollutants in the Schuylkill o Explain model/experiment Were going to split you into two groups of two Each group is going to get a bag of Skittles that represents the pollutants found in a sample of water from the Schuylkill and you will graph the amount of each color on your bar graph Based on your graphs and the information on the chart about where each pollutant comes from, do you think your water sample is from an area near a farm or the city? (see accommodations if students struggle) How/why did you make that prediction? o Show students a black cup of water that has had invisible pollutants (i.e. pesticides, sediment, waste water, miscellaneous chemicals) sitting in it Have you tested this? This is worth doing in advance of the work with kids so that you are sure that the pollution wont show. We did test this, and it turns out that you can still see the color and the bits of color coating that came off of the Skittles so we decided not to do this part of the experiment. o Students add their Skittles to a clear plastic cup of water and observe what happens. What do you notice about what the Skittles are doing at first? (float) [after color comes off and Skittle sink] What do you notice about what the trash did to the water? How interesting. I think I want to investigate what make coated skittles float! Actually, the website I looked at that suggested the Skittles would float was wrong, and that didnt actually happen. As a result, we did not ask the first question above.

Commented [RB1]: The change from line plot to bar graph was made because in the context of this lesson, a bar graph is a more meaningful way to display the data

Commented [NRB2]: Who is doing this? Do the kids get to enact it? Why not give each group a different cup of water so that they can see the color come off of the two different sets of skittles. They graphed the candy, but now they can compare how the pollution looks in the water. Commented [RB3R2]: Great idea NancyLee! We did, in fact, allow the students to pour their own Skittles into the plastic cup of water and watch the color come off. It turned out to be a great decision too, because it elicited quite a bit of conversation about the color of the water and the pieces of coating that could be seen floating around.

How does this water look to you? Does it look clean? Would you drink it?

You might want to think here about the words trash and pollution and how you are using them. I will admit that when I think of trash or litter on city streets, I am generally thinking of things like papers and cans (perhaps this is garbage in your chart?) And we can agree that most of the pollution in the Schuylkill is not from the little bit of liquid left in the can or ink off the paper, it is really from things like oil on the streets that runs off into the river, or chemicals leaking from some industrial process. Or even pet waste. Anyway, I think you might be better off trying to use the word pollution throughout, until you get to looking at the categories in the chart. We decided to stick with the language as originally written because one of the things students mentioned when journaling about and discussing their trip to the Philadelphia Waterworks was the amount of trash and garbage (chip bags, car parts, etc.) they saw in the river. Because we really wanted to make sure this lesson directly connected with the students experiences a nd knowledge, we thought it was important to reflect their observations. Closure/Discussion (10 minutes) o Students will answer these questions in their Writing Notebooks and then we will share out How were your water samples different? How were they alike? What do people do, or not do, that cause these pollutants to get into the water? How did the Skittles affect the water and what do you think actual pollutants do to the water? What can we do in the community to prevent some of this water pollution?

Assessment: Graph of data did students plot the number of Skittles of each color in their bag correctly on the bar graph? Class discussion o How did students use and analyze their data to make predictions about where their water sample came from? Did students use chart to obtain and evaluate information in order to help them make prediction? o Can students describe ways in which water pollution is harmful to the environment? o Do students notice and understand the effects pollution has on the quality of the water? Responses in Writing Notebooks o Can students explain how human activity leads to water pollution? o Can students come up with ways they can help curtail the effects of those activities? Anticipating Students Responses: Management issues

o If a student is talking while his/her peer is, we will stop and remind that student that he/she needs to be respectful of his peers and that if he/she cannot be they will have to complete the rest of the lesson independently o If students are not able to keep their hands off of the materials, they will be moved to another table and students will have to go get them when needed Content o If students cannot think of ways in which pollution could be harmful to the environment, we will have a series of pictures that show harm to animals and humans Not too shocking, I hope. No, nothing too graphic, of course. o If students do not remember how to construct a line plot we will encourage them the look at the example posters the class created around the room o If students struggle with making a prediction about whether their water sample came from an area near a farm of a city, we will ask the following questions to help guide them in the right direction: You might start by having them talk with each other. Thats a great idea its always better for students to use resources other than the teacher to answer their questions. What pollutant do you have the most of? What type(s) of activity produce that pollutant? Where would you most likely see that type of activity?

Accommodations: Students who find the material too challenging see guiding questions throughout lesson and above Students who need greater challenge and/or finish early o Generate a list of other activities people in cities engage in and what types of pollutants those might produce o Have students research information about the various projects and tools available for managing storm water and report back to the class on one. http://www.schuylkillwaters.org/projects_storm.cfm http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure/tools This is a very open-ended suggestion. Would you really just send kids to these websites to explore or research? For example, I just looked though a bit and found this section where there are several interesting storm water management tools the city is promoting. Each student could read about one and be ready to report back to the class. Thats a good point especially because using the computer is such a treat, and it would probably be easy for the students to get distracted if they dont have a clear focus. We amended this challenge in our final lesson plan so that students would be asked to specifically research information about one the projects and/or tools available for managing storm water from the two websites listed.

Land Use Agriculture/Farming

Activities

Cultivation, pest control, animal waste, fertilization, weed control Residential/City/Neighborhood Road construction Land clearing Trash removal Clearing trees Poorly maintained cars/buses Littering Painting Poor sewage systems Wastewater treatment

Potential Pollution Problems Sediment, pesticides, bacteria, ammonia, nitrate Sediment Sediment Garbage Sediment Miscellaneous chemicals Garbage Miscellaneous chemicals Miscellaneous chemicals Wastewater

Commented [NRB8]: And these kids actually know what sediment is! Although you may have to help them connect this word, and its meaning in the stream tables, to the current activity. Commented [RB9R8]: When discussing sediment, we ask the students what they remember seeing at the bottom of the beakers they used to collect rain water from the stream tables because I know that most of them drew dirt and rocks. Commented [NRB10]: Be ready to talk to kids about times that they have seen oil on the road, for example, when they see that rainbow in a puddle on the street after a rain. Otherwise this is too vague. Commented [RB11R10]: We will speak specifically about leaking cars and the oil they produce. We could also talk about other chemicals from leaking cars such as windshield wiper fluid. Commented [NRB12]: Some people use sewers as places to pour chemicals they dont want such as extra paint left over from a task. This is why you see those markers that point out that the sewers lead to rivers. http://www.kdlt.com/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=29176&Itemid=57 I think this one actually shows a school of fish, but you never see it very well, even in the video. Commented [RB13R12]: Thats a great video that could be useful if it ends up that our students dont have a good understanding of what sewage is. Unfortunately, it may be hard to show in the setting we have chosen Commented [NRB4]: Do they know what this means? Commented [RB5R4]: I am pretty sure the students know what sewage is because they discussed it with their teacher in a debriefing prior to and following their trip to Waterworks. Commented [NRB6]: Or this? (I am really asking they have been to the Waterworks Museum. They may. Commented [RB7R6]: The students CERTAINLY know what wastewater is, as they all had a good laugh when their teachers talked about the journey our poop takes after we flush the toilet Commented [NRB14]: The residential section of this chart is easier to understand because of your making matched lists in each column. Please change the farming section to look like that one. Commented [RB15R14]: You are so right, and I completely missed that when reviewing the chart. The final version of the chart will have one activity and pollutant per line in the farming section

Skittle color and corresponding pollutant: Red = pesticides Orange = sediment Yellow = garbage Green = wastewater Purple = miscellaneous chemicals

I think the bigger point that I am making here is that this chart is really doing a lot of the teaching work in this lesson students are attending to the number and relative number of these skittles, and this chart helps them interpret what they mean. So the chart really needs to communicate! Instead of adding information to the chart directly, I think it may be more powerful to engage the students in a conversation about the various elements of the chart before sending them off to analyze their data. This was, they are active in making meaning of a chart that they will then use to help them solve the task at hand.