Lesson Plan
LESSON TITLE: Water and Society.
SUBJECT AREA: Science
GRADE LEVEL: 7th
TIME ALLOCATION: 6, 50 minute periods
OBJECTIVES:
 Given a brief lecture on water’s role in society, importance in today’s world, and asked the question of
how water is retained in aquifers, the 7th grade students will initiate an investigation to determine why
groundwater collects in certain underground areas.
 Given clay, soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th grade students will test and distinguish the permeability of each
material.
 Given clay, soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th grade students will determine the porosity of each material.
 After calculating the permeability and porosity of clay, soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th grade students will
compose a physical representation of substrate layers that would make an effective aquifer.
 Given time in the computer lab to research different perspectives of water usage of the Great Lakes, the
7th grade students will complete a webquest to augment their understanding of the subject and form an
opinion, as well as gather resources to support their argument.
 Given information and resources about issues surrounding aquifers, water’s role in society, and social
issues pertaining to water, locally, nationally, and worldwide, the 7th grade students will debate the use of
water in the Great Lakes from different perspectives.
Day 1. Lecture on water and society, importance in the world, ask why water is collected in certain areas
and not in others. Lead lab on permeability.
Day 2. Lead lab on porosity
Day 3. Students will make a physical representation of an effective aquifer using data gathered from labs.
Students will use large plastic cups with holes in the bottom, and provided substrates. Each group will
have time to construct their aquifer. Then each group will come up to the front to see which group’s
aquifer holds the most water.
Day 4. Lecture on social issues and conflict surrounding sources of fresh water. Introduce great lakes
debate. Divy students into groups with sides to defend and support in debate.
Day 5. In computer lab, do a webquest about the great lakes.
Day 6. Debate over water usage of the great lakes. Attempt to reach some resolution.
STANDARDS: Thermal energy is transferred as water changes state throughout the cycle. The cycling of water in
the atmosphere is an important part of weather patterns on Earth. The rate at which water flows through soil and
rock is dependent upon the porosity and permeability of the soil or rock. (Mogadore District Standards, Earth and
Space Science, 7th grade, section 7, standard 4)
BIG IDEA(S): Porosity and permeability of different materials and how these factors contribute to layers of an
effective aquifer. The role water and access to fresh water plays in our society.
GROUPING OF STUDENTS & RATIONALE:
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE NEEDED/(THIS CAN BE
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT): Before the lesson students
Students will be grouped into small groups. Since need to understand the hydrological cycle. Students need to
we are doing a laboratory activity being in small
understand the changing states of water as it moves through
groups of 3-4 will allow each student to intently
the biosphere. Students also need to understand properties
observe the lab and individually engage in the
of water, and properties of matter.
inquiry process.
MATERIALS:
Gravel
Clay
STUDENT PROFILE (identify special characteristics of
students relative to lesson)
Students are mostly white middle class with easy access to
Soil
Sand
Beakers
Coffee filters
Plastic cups with holes in the bottom
Plastic cups without holes
Stop watch
water. Living in the great lakes region, these students may
have an under appreciation for the vital place in society water
plays.
MODIFICATIONS TO MEET INDIVIDUAL STUDENT
NEEDS:
The lesson will be modified as needed for any student with
special needs in the classroom.
IDENTIFY ACADEMIC & RELATED CONTENT
LANGUAGE :
Aquifer- a wet underground layer of waterbearing or permeable rock or unconsolidated
materials from which groundwater can be
usefully extracted using a water well.
Aquitard- a bed of low permeability along an
aquifer
Permeability- the measure of how easily water
can flow through a material
Porosity- the measure of the void spaces in a
material such as soil, sand, or rock. It is
measured as a percentage of open space or
pores in a material
INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL(S) & RATIONALE
Direct instruction lecture, guided inquiry, role play. The lesson requires an introduction of general knowledge
pertaining to the subject before students can launch an investigation to inquire as to why water gathers in certain
places and not others. The inquiry aspect allows students to explore their own ideas and prove to themselves
whether or not their hypotheses are false or not false.
PROCEDURE AND ACTIVITIES (Name teaching strategy for each
TIME ALLOCATIONS
activity (cooperative learning, presentation teaching, guided inquiry, etc.)
DAY ONE
Objective- Given a brief lecture on water’s role in society,
importance in today’s world, and asked the question of how water
is retained in aquifers, the 7th grade students will initiate an
investigation to determine why groundwater collects in certain
underground areas. Given clay, soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th
grade students will test and distinguish the permeability of each
material
1.
PRE-ACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Teaching strategy: Whole class discussion
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
Students will be asked to think about their morning routine.
Students will be asked to raise their hands and name activities
they do in the morning. The teacher will write the activities on the
board.
Students will be asked to look at the list and see if any of the
activities do not in some way involve water.
Students will be asked to raise their hand and identify any
activities they think do not involve water.
The class will be asked to determine if the activity actually does
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10 minutes
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not involve water or if there is a way to connect it to water in
some way. After some discussion the class will be made aware
that there is very little in our daily life that does not involve water
in some roundabout way.
The teacher will then pull up images of the Ogallala aquifer as
ask the students why water collects in that area and not in other
places.
Students will be informed of the lesson’s objectives: Given a brief
discussion on water’s role in society, importance in today’s world,
and asked the question of how water is retained in aquifers, the
7th grade students will initiate an investigation to determine why
groundwater collects in certain underground areas. Given clay,
soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th grade students will test and
distinguish the permeability of each material
3 minutes
Transition:
“So we’re asking the question; why does water collect in some places
and not in others? What could we look at to figure this out?”
Students will suggest several options, one of which will likely be related
to the composition of the ground. Students will be told the definitions of
the terms permeability and porosity. Students will then be directed to the
lab.
2. ACTIVITY
 Students will divide into groups of three. Each group will
designate one person to gather the materials, one person to pour
the water, and one person to use the stopwatch and record the
data. Each group will receive four plastic cups with holes in the
bottom, four coffee filters, two beakers, one stop watch. There will
be four buckets at the back of the room with four different
materials in them, one with soil, one with clay, one with rocks,
and one with sand. Each bucket will have a scoop or cup, and a
100 mL beaker for measuring the appropriate amount of material
into each cup.
 Students will be given a lab sheet upon which to record their
data.
 Each group will gather the appropriate amount of each material,
100 mL of each into the appropriate cups with the coffee filters in
the bottoms. As well as gathering 100 mL of water into a beaker.
They will take them back to their table.
 The students will then carefully hold one cup of material over an
empty beaker. They will then start the timer as they slowly pour
the 100 mL of water into the cup. The students will stop the timer
when all of the water has trickled through the material. The
students will repeat this three more times with the other materials,
recording how long it takes for the 100 mL of water to drain
through each material.
 Students will use dump the water used each time and use fresh
water for each experiment so as to reduce cross contamination.
 After completing the tests the students will put away their
materials, clean up their work spaces, and finish their
calculations.
25 minutes
Transition:
“Once you’ve finished with you calculations quickly rank the materials
with your group, 1 being the material with the highest permeability, and
four being the least permeable. And then return to your seats.”
Students will make their determination as to which material has the
greatest permeability and which had the least, and then they will return to
their seats.
3. POST ACTIVITY
 Students will be asked to rank the materials from highest
permeability to lowest permeability. Class will agree upon an
order.
 Students will be asked to reflect on why each material has the
permeability it does.
 Students will raise hand to venture suggestions.
 Class will be told about the rate of flow and how grain size and
shape affect how easily water can flow through different
materials. Students will be asked to relate this to each material.
2 minutes
10 minutes
Closure: “So today we looked at how water flows through different
materials. I want you to keep this in mind and start thinking about how
this relates to aquifers and why we have aquifers in certain places and
not in others. On Friday we’ll do a similar lab to determine porosity of the
materials.”
DAY TWO

Objective: Given clay, soil, gravel, and sand, the 7th grade
students will determine the porosity of each material.
1. PREACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
The teacher will ask the students to volunteer what they learned
last class in the porosity lab. The students will tell the teacher
what materials had high permeability and which materials had
low permeability. The teacher will ask the students how
permeability contributes to a good aquifer. Students will
eventually say water needs to flow through some materials and
be stopped by others. The teacher will illustrate with a clear
plastic cup, there must be something holding the water in place
and preventing it from flowing out. The teacher will then point out
the space inside the cup and ask students if it is empty. In order
to contain water there must be empty spaces that can hold water.
This is called porosity. Introduce lab.
Transition: “So since aquifers are underground, there can’t simply
be a wide open empty space there for the water to flow into, but
there are spaces between the particles of each material. So
today we’re going to measure how much water each of our
materials can absorb and then use that to determine what
materials and geological formations would make for a good
aquifer.
2. ACTIVITY
10 minutes
5 minutes
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Students will divide into the same groups of three as they were
Wednesday. Each group will designate one person to gather the
materials, one person to pour the water, and one person to
record the data. Each group will receive four plastic cups, one
beaker, and one stop watch. There will be four buckets at the
back of the room with four different materials in them, one with
soil, one with clay, one with rocks, and one with sand. Each
bucket will have a scoop or cup, and a 100 mL beaker for
measuring the appropriate amount of material into each cup.
Students will be given a lab sheet upon which to record their
data.
Each group will gather the appropriate amount of each material,
75 mL of each into the appropriate cups. As well as gathering
100 mL of water into a beaker. They will take them back to their
table.
The students will then carefully and slowly pour the water into the
cup of sand, until there is a thin layer of water at the top. The
students will then record the remaining amount of water in the
beaker. The students will then subtract the remaining volume of
water from the initial 100 mL, determining how much water was
absorbed by the material.
Students will dump the water used each time and use fresh water
for each experiment so as to reduce cross contamination.
After completing the tests the students will put away their
materials, clean up their work spaces, and finish their
calculations.
Transition:
“Once you’ve finished with you calculations quickly rank the materials
with your group, 1 being the material with the highest porosity, and four
having the lowest porosity. And then return to your seats.”
Students will make their determination as to which material has the
greatest porosity and which had the least, and then they will return to
their seats.
3. POST ACTIVITY
 Students will be asked to rank the materials from highest porosity
to lowest porosity. Class will agree upon an order.
 Students will be asked to reflect on why each material has the
porosity it does.
 Students will raise hand to venture suggestions.
 Class will be told about how grain size and shape affect how
easily water can be absorbed by each of the different materials.
Students will be asked to relate this to each material.
Closure:
“So between our first lab and second lab we’ve covered the
concepts of how well water can flow through materials and how
much water can be absorbed by these materials. Both of these
concepts are related to the size and shape of each individual
particle and how much space there is between them. I want you
to think about how these relate to creating an ideal place for
water to collect underground. When we come back next week
each group will have to make an aquifer in some form, either a
25 minutes
2 minutes
5 minutes
3 minutes
drawing, a computer rendering, a model, or whatever else you
can think of. So start thinking of ideas and be prepared to explain
why it would make an effective aquifer.
DAY THREE
Objective:
1. PREACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Transition:
2. ACTIVITY
Transition:
3. POST ACTIVITY
Closure:
DAY FOUR
Objective:
1. PREACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Transition:
2. ACTIVITY
Transition:
3. POST ACTIVITY
Closure:
DAY FIVE
Objective:
1. PREACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Transition:
2. ACTIVITY
Transition:
3. POST ACTIVITY
Closure:
DAY SIX
Objective:
1. PREACTIVITY: ADVANCE ORGANIZER
Transition:
2. ACTIVITY
Transition:
3. POST ACTIVITY
Closure:
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT [Name of Assessment Tool & Description, including Authentic or Traditional]:
POST TEACHING REFLECTIONS: