1 | Implementing the water education resources

Implementing the water education resources
ISBN: 978-1-74200-133-3
SCIS order number: 1541750
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Acknowledgments
Front cover: Courtesy of the State Library of
South Australia & DS Fensom, SLSA: B70030 –
Sturt’s Desert Pea, 2006, above (left); ©
Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
Paul Wainwright, above (centre);
© Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
John Baker, above (right); courtesy Murray-
Darling Basin Authority – photograph by Irene
Dowdy, below (far left);
© Commonwealth of Australia –photograph by
Angus Emmott, below (centre left);
© Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
Paul Wainwright, below (centre right);
© Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
Neil Eigeland, below (far right).
Back cover: © Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by Mike Trenerry, above (left); ©
Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
John Baker, above (right);
© Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, below (far left); courtesy Murray-Darling Basin
Authority – photograph by John Kruger, below
(centre left);
© Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
Yvonne Webster, below (centre); courtesy
Murray-Darling Basin Authority – photograph by
Irene Dowdy, below (centre right); ©
Commonwealth of Australia – photograph by
Paul Wainwright, below (far right).
Front and back cover images are repeated in the banners throughout the document.
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The four water education resources have been developed for use in lower secondary schooling.
The resources provide teachers with curriculum lesson plans shaped around a series of investigations that enable students to explore the natural environment and contemporary issues about water sustainability relevant to four major water regions in Australia:

The Murray-Darling Basin

The Great Artesian Basin

The Lake Eyre Basin

The Wet Tropics and Northern Australia.
The resources can be used in a number of different ways. Teachers may:
 select a region of interest and follow a series of lessons to support students’ inquiries
 choose specific lessons that are relevant to students’ needs
 compare issues across regions and use the resources to develop their own curriculum.
The guiding questions for investigation typically enable students to:
 build on what they know about the region and its water resources
 explore the region as a natural system
 discover how human activity influences the region
 consider strategies that are being or can be implemented to address environmental, social, cultural and economic concerns as they relate to water resources.
The Overview section of each resource includes an at-a-glance outline of all the investigations; associated lessons and their outcomes; and a table of the relevant Australian Curriculum links.
In turn, each investigation provides teachers with an introduction and the Australian
Curriculum links for science and geography.
Each lesson includes the learning outcome; teacher background to the topic; advice on preparation and suggested resources, web links, maps and other visual representations to support learning; references; learning activities;
Developing vocabulary sections, worksheets and identified terms linked to a glossary.
Lessons cater for a range of student learning, incorporating:
 hands-on investigations
 interpreting statistics and data
 viewing or listening to a range of multimodal texts including articles, audio files and videos
 engaging with interactive charts
 writing and presenting ideas in various formats, using ICT where appropriate.
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These resources align to the Australian
Curriculum for Science for students at year 7, and the Shape of the Australian Curriculum:
Geography for year 7. Teachers may implement these resources with a science or geography focus, or choose an interdisciplinary approach.
To encourage an inquiry-based learning approach, each resource is based on a Big Idea:
‘How do we ensure that Australia’s water use is sust ainable?’
The study of water use and its sustainable management in Australia provides an authentic context for a scientific inquiry that incorporates science understanding, science as a human endeavour and science inquiry skills.
Students explore the way in which water cycles through the environment, considering the inputs, processes and outputs of the natural system.
Students investigate the influence human activity has on the system.
Students are encouraged to follow their own inquiry, based on their own question or questions posed by the resource or the teacher.
They plan and conduct relevant experiments to gather data, which can be used as evidence to support their scientific ideas and explanations.
Students use a range of sources, including digital ones, to:
 explain how a natural river system or artesian basin operates
 describe water use and consumption
 identify and begin to understand relevant issues
 find out about water-efficient technologies and practices
 describe the biodiversity of aquatic environments
 explain how people of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints depend on water
 investigate how science contributes to addressing contemporary issues that have an impact on society, and the way in which science understanding influences areas of human activity related to agriculture and industry.
These resources cover the overarching scientific ideas of systems, form and function, scale and measurement, stability and change, and the flow of matter and energy.
Challenging students to formulate a response to the ‘Big idea’ using a geographical inquiry requires them to investigate perspectives related to place, environment and space. They:
 study the particular characteristics of places that include settlement, economic activity, climate and vegetation, and their interrelationships
 make connections between the influence of human activity and the biophysical environment.
Throughout the resources, students have the opportunity to interpret, analyse and represent information using maps, statistical data, diagrams and graphs. During their inquiries, questions will
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arise from teachers or as a result of students encountering new ideas about the world around them. The range of question types posed in the resources themselves ensure that students are encouraged to explain observations; describe possible consequences of particular actions; and consider possible alternatives.
Each of the resources develops an understanding of environmental citizenship as students develop a deeper understanding of their responsibilities toward sustainable water use and conservation.
Each resource covers aspects of environmental sustainability. Water use in Australia is a topic that provides a context to view and analyse an issue from different perspectives, integrating economic costs and benefits, social equity, environmental health, and political constraints and guidelines. Through their inquiry students will begin to understand the complexity of the issues around water use in Australia.
Cultural significance is an important aspect covered in these resources. The topic of water use in Australia provides a real and authentic context to include an Indigenous perspective and an opportunity for students to learn from the experience of thousands of years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander occupation of these regions and to understand their connection to the land.
A glossary of terms is provided to support students to develop their scientific and geographic literacy in order to communicate their ideas. The inquiries support students to develop the literacy skills of listening, speaking, viewing, writing and creating visual and digital materials. The developing vocabulary sections throughout each Package provide opportunities for students to revisit and consolidate their understanding of certain key terms that they encountered in the previous Investigation.
The lessons incorporate numeracy skills and demands that students will use to help make sense of scientific and geographic understandings. These include:
 counting, measuring and using relevant units particularly for volume and capacity
 calculating statistics and interpreting them
 constructing and interpreting graphs with a focus on identifying trends and patterns.
Students also use their spatial skills through working with maps, diagrams, photographs and satellite images.
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Students locate and use relevant information using a search engine; view online digital resources; capture, annotate and/or create their own images; and incorporate digital materials into products created to communicate and share their ideas.
Critical and creative thinking are embedded in the lessons in a range of ways including posing questions, making predictions, speculating, solving problems through investigation, making evidence-based decisions, analysing and evaluating evidence, and summarising information. Students are provided with opportunities to generate and evaluate knowledge, ideas and possibilities, and use them when seeking new solutions. Students are encouraged to develop their own understanding of concepts based on active inquiry. This involves researching, selecting and evaluating appropriate information from a range of sources, and conducting practical investigations to formulate conclusions.
The lessons foster ethical thinking and behaviour in a number of different contexts.
There are explicit lessons on taking personal responsibility for the use and management of water resources, acting with regard for others, and having a desire and capacity to work for the common good.
Students are encouraged to explore the implications of their investigations on others, on the environment, and on other living organisms.
The lessons also encourage and model to students the need to evaluate claims based on science, which enables them to make reasoned judgements about a range of social, environmental and personal issues relating to water use and management.
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