Clean the Water

Clean the Water

Time of Activity: 30 minutes

Materials needed:

• 3 Empty water bottles per team

o Dirt, dust, fur

• Napkins

• Coffee filters

• Cotton Balls

• Sand

• Gravel

• Cheese cloth

• Beakers

Objectives:

Understand issues with pollution and clean water. Practice experimentation techniques with different filtration deceives.

MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and

ecosystem services.

MS-ESS2-4. Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems

driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and

minimizing a human impact on the environment.

MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to

determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among

several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined

into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Take Home Message:

With creativity we can solve problems we have created for the earth

Synopsis of the activity:

Students will test different filtration devices to see what will best filter the dirty water

Set up of the activity:

Bring in two 2-liters of dirty water. Make sure to have backup supplies to make more dirty water. Divide the supplies for the test to average 4 people per group

Steps of the activity:

1. Discuss ways humans are changing the environment

a. Deforestation

b. Habitat Loss

c. Climate Change

d. Carbon emissions

2. Discuss the importance of water on humans:

a. How much of the earth is made up of water?

i. 71% of the earth is made up of water

b. How much of the earth’s water is salt water?

i. Approximately 96.5% is salt water

c. How much is fresh?

i. About 2.5% is fresh water

d. Where is most of the fresh water?

i. 68% of fresh water is found in glaciers and icecaps

e. So what?

i. A very small amount of the water on earth is potable, drinkable.

3. What happens when someone drinks contaminated water?

a. Illness

i. Giardia

ii. Dysentery

iii. Legionella

b. 50% of urban residents in developing countries are still coming into contact with contaminated water

4. We are going to see what methods will start to clean out water sources!

5. Everyone will try experiment with two different methods then make whatever changes they need for the last trial.

6. Divide the class into teams of 4 people

7. Each group will get the same supplies and 10 minutes to come up with their filters

8. When a group has made their filters the facilitator will take the dirty water over and pour it into their filters

a. The group will then pour the filtered water into beakers

9. After the groups have tested their two trials they will get a chance to make any changes and will try one last time

10. After all the groups have finished their third trial clean up!

11. Debrief Questions:

• What went well for your group?

• What did not go well for your group?

• Did your changes you made for your third trial go well?

o Why/Why not?

• Why do you think scientists test experiments multiple times?

• How can we take this information into our daily lives?

o (Hints) Anything that can keep the waterways clean

-Waterway clean ups

-Not letting soap and chemicals go down storm drains

o (Hints) everyday items can help us clean up messes

12. There are plenty of creative solutions for many of our planet’s issues

a. Researchers found that human hair can help clean up oil spills

b. One man realized he could install plastic bottles into the ceiling and fill them with water to help illuminate houses with no electricity

c. A man in Japan installed a tube into his umbrella to collect rain water

13. We can start to take every day items and help clean up our planet!

References

https://www.who.int/sustainable-development/cities/health-risks/water-sanitation/en/

https://ecobnb.com/blog/2014/02/10-green-inventions-incredible/

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23536914