Lesson Plan
Instructor:
Course:
Unit Topic:
Stormwater Detectives
Lesson Title: Investigating the Water Cycle
Objectives
Grade Level(s):
# of Students:
3rd-5th
25
Learning Goals for the Unit (being met by this lesson):
Upon completion of this unit, students will demonstrate their understanding of science through
the application of engineering practices to stormwater management.
Specific/Enabling Objectives (to reach terminal objective):
Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Name and explain the stages of the water cycle
Define infiltration
Identify the three main soil textures (sand, silt and clay)
Explain how soil texture affects infiltration
Assessment
Description of Assessment
Obj.
No.
Type
1
F
Classroom discussion as facilitated by instructor; Song;
Drawing of the water cycle
2
F
Classroom discussion as facilitated by instructor
3
F
Classroom discussion as facilitated by instructor
4
F
Classroom discussion as facilitated by instructor
(F/S)
(if test, give questions/items from test)
Connections to Standards
Objective 1
 5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere,
hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Objective 2
 5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals,
decomposers, and the environment.
 5-PS2-1 Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is
directed down.
Objective 3
 5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere,
hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Objective 4
 5-ESS2-1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere,
hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Resources and Materials
Handouts:
 Story of Brook and Rio (Chapter 1)
 Water cycle song by Science Explosion (David Bydlowski, Charles Kline, and Fred
Ribits
 Water cycle placemat for kids (students take-home)
 Clues and decoder key
Materials:
 Water cycle poster or image
 Post-It notes
 Toy dinosaur
 MP3 Player and/or MPEG-4 player (optional)
 Letter-size sheet of paper for each student in the class
 Crayons or markers for every student in the class
 Small bags of sand, silt and clay for each student in the class
 Small plastic magnifying glass for each student in the class
 Basketball
 Baseball
 Mechanical pencil
 Two small plastic containers (one filled with sand, the other filled with a clayey soil)
 Two small plastic containers to catch water
 Roots of plants (grass and trees)
 Container with about 400 mL of water
 Hula hoop
 Indoor basketball goal
 Empty water bottle
 3-5 Small bouncy balls (small enough to fit through the opening of a water bottle)
 Stormwater Model
 Small spray bottle with water
 Eye dropper
 Rubbing alcohol
 Blow dryer set on cool (optional)
Sand is readily available at hardware stores. Silt and clay may be locally available, such as in
your back yard, or you may purchase soil through a scientific educational supplier (e.g. Ward’s
Science sells a Soil, Sands and Gravel Set).
Prepare the plastic containers about ahead of time. Drill about 10 evenly spaced holes in the
bottom of each container. Fill one container with sand and the other with a clayey soil (ideally
this soil would be local). The soil placed in the containers should be dry and without clumps. If
it is not, spread it out on newspaper to dry. Break up any clumps before placing the soil in the
containers. To better simulate natural conditions, help the soil settle into the container by
spraying water on the soil and allowing it to dry.
Create a decoder key using a number to represent each letter of the alphabet. It is easier if A=1,
B=2, etc.
Resources/References
 The Water Cycle for Kids (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kids.html)
 The Water Cycle for Kids: A Placement (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle-kidsplacemat.html)
 Summary of the Water Cycle (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesummary.html)
 Water Cycle Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw275056JtA)
 Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil Education
(http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/edu/)
INTRODUCTION (Preparation/Interest Approach/Learning Context)
Inform the students that, throughout these five lessons, they will learn about stormwater, its
impact on the environment, and ways to reduce those impacts. Like any good detective, the
students will use clues collected over the five lessons to solve The Mystery of Stormwater.
In this lesson, students will search for clues to help solve The Mystery of the Missing Water
Drops.
Teacher will hand out a sheet of the story and will read it to the students at the beginning of the
lesson.
Story
Brook is 9 years old and loves playing outdoors with her dog Rio. Together, they play outside
for hours exploring the neighborhoods and parks near their home. One day while they were
playing in a new park, Brook and Rio discovered a stream. This stream wasn’t pretty like the
ones near her grandparent’s house. The streams near her grandparent’s house had cool, clear
water that flowed over large rocks, trees that lines the banks, and fish swimming everywhere.
The stream they found had none of those things. Very little water was present in the stream, and
what water was present was cloudy and warm. The bottom of the stream was covered with a
layer of mud. The banks were steep and falling in. No trees were present, only grass. And as
hard as Brook and Rio searched, they could not find any fish but they could find a lot of trash
such as soda bottle, candy bar wrappers, and plastic bags.
On their way home, Brook and Rio wondered what happened to the stream. What happened to
the fish? That evening Brook and Rio decided to investigate. Brook and Rio decided to become
Stormwater Detectives. But, they need your help in finding clues and in solving The Mystery of
Stormwater.
If needed, tell students the following:
Mystery: something that is unknown.
Detective: someone who gathers clues and investigates mysteries.
Teacher will give students a set of clues at the end of each lesson. Students will use the clues
from lessons 1-4 to solve the mystery in lesson 5.
LESSON (Presentation, Methods & Application)
Objective 1: Name and explain the stages of the water cycle
Objective 2: Define Infiltration
Teacher will begin by asking students the following questions:
1. What does the word cycle mean?
2. What shapes best represent a cycle?
3. Have you ever heard of the water cycle? What do you know about it?
Cycle: A sequence of repeated events. A good example is the days of the week.
Shapes: Circles and ovals
Water Cycle: A cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below
the surface of the Earth.
Water Cycle Poster
Teacher will display the water cycle poster (or image) for the students. Teacher will write on
the board the following words: precipitation, infiltration, evaporation, and condensation.
Teacher will ask the students to find these words on the water cycle poster and place Post-It
notes by the words. After the students have found the words, ask them what they think the
words mean based on what the water drops are doing in the poster. After the discussion, write
the definitions on the board.
Precipitation: Water that comes from clouds.
Most precipitation falls as rain, but it can also fall as frozen water such as snow.
Infiltration: Process whereby water soaks into the ground.
Some water infiltrates only a short distance down before it travels to a stream where it comes
back to the surface.
Evaporation: Process whereby water changes from liquid to gas.
Evaporation is the main way that water on the Earth moves back to the atmosphere. Water
changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor. Heat is necessary for evaporation to occur, which is
why water evaporates more quickly when the sun in out.
Condensation: Process whereby water vapor changes into a liquid.
Clouds are an example of condensation. Air high in the atmosphere is cool. As hot air from the
earth rises, it cools causing the water vapor to condense or join together to form larger droplets
of water. When the droplets get large enough, they fall to the ground as precipitation.
Other examples are the water drops that form on a glass of cold water on a hot day and the
water drops that form on your bathroom mirror after a hot shower.
Teacher will hold up a toy dinosaur and will ask the following question:
1. What do you have in common with a dinosaur?
Because of the water cycle, it is possible you and a dinosaur drank the same water. Water never
leaves the Earth, it just cycles.
Model Activity: Water Cycle
For this activity, use the non-watershed friendly model.
Using the squirt bottle, have a student spray a water/rubbing alcohol mixture on the model
surface.
Ask students:
1. What does the water represent?
The water from the squirt bottle is precipitation in the form of rain.
2. What are other types of precipitation?
Snow, hail, sleet, and freezing rain are common examples.
3. Where is the water going? What is this called?
Some rainfall is absorbed by the “grass”. This water infiltrating into the ground.
4. What happens to water sitting on the surface such as grass, roofs, and driveways?
It evaporates.
Evaporation will be demonstrated using rubbing alcohol and a hair dryer. If there are not
enough water/alcohol droplets on the street or roof of the house, use the eye dropper to drop
more rubbing alcohol onto those surfaces. Put the blow dryer on WARM not hot (you don’t
want to damage the model) and aim it on the droplets. They will evaporate quickly.
5. What happens to the water after it evaporates?
It becomes condensation. The water that evaporates into the clouds will condensate, forming
water droplets that will once again fall to the ground in the form of precipitation.
Water Cycle Song
Teacher will hand out lyrics to the students and will play the song titled Water Cycle. Play the
song once asking the students to listen to the lyrics. Play 1-2 more times asking the students to
sing along.
Water Cycle Drawing
Teacher will give each student a letter-size sheet of paper and crayons or markers. Teacher will
ask each student to draw the water cycle.
Use the time while the students are drawing to set-up the next portion of the lesson.
Objective 3: Identify the three main soil types (sand, silt and clay)
Teacher will begin by asking students the following questions:
1. What is soil?
2. Are all soils the same?
Soil: Top layer of the Earth’s surface which supports plant life.
No, all soils are not the same. Soils in Lexington are different from soils in Florida. There are
many ways soils differ. Let’s look at one way: soil texture.
Soil Texture: Soil texture refers to the size of particles in the soil. Some particles are big and
some are small. The size of the particles affects how they feel.
Teacher will give each student a bag of sand, silt and clay as well as a plastic magnifying glass.
Ask each student to open the bag labeled sand. Have the students should feel the sand with their
fingers. Have the students look at the sand with their magnifying glasses.
Teacher will ask the following questions:
1. What does the sand feel like?
2. Can you see an individual piece of sand?
Sand feels gritty. The particles of sand are large enough to be seen individually. Repeat for silt
and clay. Silt and clay feel smooth. The particles of each are too small to be seen individually.
Teacher will hold up a basketball to represent sand, a baseball to represent silt, and the tip of a
mechanical pencil to represent clay. Emphasize the differences in sizes between sand, silt and
clay.
Teacher will ask the students:
1. What type of soil do you think was present in the stream that Brook and Rio found?
2. Why do you think this?
Since the stream bottom has a layer of mud, clay and silt would be most appropriate. Soils have
all three types (sand, silt and clay). Soils will look and behave differently depending on the
percentages or amounts of each type.
Objective 4: Explain how soil type affects infiltration
Teacher will begin by asking students the following questions:
1. What is infiltration?
2. Why does water flow downward?
3. What can water infiltrate? What can water not infiltrate?
4. What affects how fast water infiltrates?
Relate infiltration to the detective theme.
Infiltration (detective definition): enter into an organization or area undetected
When detectives are looking for clues, often they have to infiltrate an organization or area.
When detectives do this, they are entering into an organization undetected – much like a spy.
Ask students how a spy might infiltrate a group (disguise, move slowly, hide, etc.)
Infiltration (water and soil definition): Process whereby water that soaks into the ground.
Some water infiltrates only a short distance down before it travels to a stream where it comes
back to the surface.
Gravitational forces: force or pull of attraction of one object on another
Gravitational force is related to mass, so the larger the mass, the larger the gravitational force
(think you versus the Earth). Gravitational force is also related to proximity, so closer objects
have a greater pull than ones that are further away (think moon versus Jupiter).
Water infiltrates downward in the soil due to gravitational forces.
Note that there are two other types of forces affecting water movement: matric and capillary
forces.
Water can infiltrate: soil
Water cannot infiltrate: driveways, roads, roofs (assumes not “green” types which do allow
infiltration)
Infiltration rate of water is affected by: precipitation, soil texture, and macropores
Slow precipitation events have time to soak into the ground. Fast events do not; so much of the
water runs off. Soil type strongly affects infiltration rates. Sand have high infiltrates rates, so a
lot of water soaks into the ground. Clays do not, so a lot of water runs off.
Think of water as a sneaky detective. To infiltrate, water must slowly move around soil
particles. Think of the soil particles as people. Is it easy to sneak around a lot of people or a few
people? It is much easier to sneak around a few people. When there are few people, you can
move faster.
Macropores: large openings in the soil
Macropores are large openings that allow water to quickly flow through the soil.
Teacher will ask students the following question:
1. What creates macropores?
Macropores are created by animals, insects and plants. Examples include burrowing animals
such as moles, groundhogs; earthworms; the roots of vegetation such as grass and trees. When
vegetation (namely the roots) dies and decomposes, openings in the soil are left.
Teacher will ask students the following question:
1. What type of vegetation do you think creates the most and largest macropores? Think of
your neighborhood.
Trees have many roots, and these roots can extend many feet under the soil, so they can create
long macropores. Teacher will show students roots from trees and grass to compare.
Plastic Container Demonstration (Non-model only)
Teacher will ask one student to hold the sand plastic container over one empty container.
Teacher will ask another student to hold the clayey soil plastic container over a second empty
container. Teacher will pour 200 mL of water over the sand and 200 mL of water over the
clayey soil. Allow the students to observe the water for 1-2 minutes.
Teacher will ask the following questions:
1. Which soil did the water flow through faster?
2. Why do you think this happened?
The water will flow through the sand at a much faster rate than through the clayey soil. The
difference is due to the size of the sand particles as compared to the clay particles. Sand
particles are large, so they create lots of void or open space for water to travel through. Clay
particles are small, so the void or open spaces are small. Water cannot travel as quickly through
these small spaces.
Model Activity: Infiltration
Have students spray water over the infiltration section of the model. The water will go through
the surface and flow into sections filled with materials of different porosity. Beneath each
section is a clear box that the water will drip into. Materials with higher porosity will fill the
boxes faster.
Teacher will ask students the following questions:
1. What is it called when the water goes through ground?
2. What is the difference in the materials that the water is flowing through?
3. Why does the water flow faster through some materials?
The water is infiltrating through the ground. The materials differ in their infiltration rates, or
how quickly the water can flow through them. This difference is because the porosity or sizes of
the holes in between the soil grains are different. The material with the most water in the
graduated cylinder let more water through because the holes in between the grains are much
larger. Because of this, water can flow through more easily.
Measuring Infiltration Rates (Optional)
Have students measure 500 mL of water and place in a cup. Repeat four more times (one cup
per infiltration chamber). One by one, have students pour a cup of water onto an infiltration
chamber. Measure the time it takes the water to infiltrate (start the timer when the water is
poured onto the soil. Note the time when the water first appears in the chamber. Note the time
when the water has stopped infiltrating. Measure the volume of water infiltrated. Compare
times and volumes using graphs.
Water Molecule Toss
Teacher will pass out a drawing showing the size of openings created from different sized
circles (soil particles). Larger soil particles create larger openings.
Teacher will hold up the hula hoop to represent the openings between sand particles. Teacher
will tell students the bouncy ball represents a water molecule. Standing 5 ft away (modify as
needed), students will try to toss the bouncy ball through the hula hoop. Allow all students or a
subset of students to participate.
Teacher will hold up an indoor basketball goal to represent the openings between silt particles.
Standing 5 ft away (modify as needed), students will try to toss the bouncy ball through the
Nerf goal. Allow all students or a subset of students to participate.
Teacher will hold up the water bottle to represent the openings between clay particles. Standing
5 ft away (modify as needed), students will try to toss the bouncy ball through the mouth of the
water bottle. Allow all students or a subset of students to participate.
Wrap Up: Closure, Review for the Days Lesson
Teacher will re-emphasize the main points of the day by asking the following questions:
1. What are the stages of the water cycle?
2. What is infiltration?
3. What are the three soil textures?
4. How does soil texture affects infiltration?
Teacher will give each student a copy of the water cycle placemat.
Teacher will give the students a sheet of paper with the following clues to decode along with
the decoder key:
1. Infiltration
2. Soil Texture
3. Vegetation
Students will need to keep the clues from each lesson. All of the clues together will help solve
the mystery.