Pollution and Water Conservation

• Unit Overview: This is a lesson formatted to fit into a unit on pollution. Emphasis will be placed on reducing, reusing and recycling natural resources and waste. Students will delve into an extensive study of land, water and air pollution and discover some major concerns, impacts and ways of responding to pollution.
• I. Goal: At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:
  Understand the importance of reducing the use of resources
  Calculate how much water is used daily, weekly and monthly when flushing the toilet
  Determine how to calculate the amount of water saved when reducing water use
  Brainstorm other ways to reduce waste
  
• II. Subjects(s):
  Earth science/Ecology
  Math
  English
  Social Studies
  
• III. Grade level: 5th grade
  
• IV. Anticipatory Set: Two days before this lesson, students are given the assignment to tally the amount of times the toilet is flushed in their household during one day. As the students enter, they are expected to write their names on the board under the corresponding column whose range includes their amount of tally marks. Have them take their seats afterward and instruct them to observe the table.
  0-5 flushes
  6-10 flushes
  11-15 flushes
  16-20 flushes
  20+ flushes
  Are there any trends you notice with the table?
  There are a lot of people within 6-10 flushes
  There are few (or none) under 20+ flushes
  Why might the people at the higher end of the table have more flushes in a day?
  They have a bigger family
  Someone was sick that day
  Because we’ve been studying pollution and resources, why might I have had you do this assignment?
  
• V. Nevada Standards:
  N.5.A.5 Students know how to plan and conduct a safe and simple investigation.
  N.5.B.3 Students know the benefits of working with a team and sharing findings.
  1.5.1 Describe how scarcity requires a person to make a choice and identify a
  cost associated with the decision.
  1.5.4 Add and subtract decimals; multiply and divide decimals by whole
  numbers in problems representing practical situations.
  3.5.6 Identify equivalent periods of time, including relationships between and
  among seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years (e.g. 60 sec = 1 min).
  5.5.6 Write short expository texts that speculate on cause and effects and offer
  simple persuasive evidence.
  
• Differentiated learning outcomes
  Behavioral Objectives
  Above grade level: At the end of the lesson, students will calculate the amount of water
  used and saved in a year, month, week and day.
  At grade level: At the end of the lesson, students will calculate the amount of water used
  and saved in a month, week and day.
  Below grade level: At the end of the lesson, students will calculate the amount of water
  used and saved in a day.
  
• Assessments
  Above grade level: When the student submits the homework, a detailed explanation of the math results is written.
  At grade level: When the student submits the homework, a conclusion is determined
  mathematically.
  Below grade level: When the student submits the homework, a conclusion is determined
  based on observation and hypothesis.
  
• VI. Procedures:
  The students are divided into groups formed around the results from the anticipatory set and will each be given a short worksheet. They are to watch the video I have prepared showing how much water is in a toilet tank and are asked to fill out the worksheet with their previous night’s findings and the result from the video (lines one and two).
  As a class, I will walk through an example on the overhead with my personal results. [Demonstration] The mathematical method I use will be worked out on an overhead or whiteboard to encourage the students how to solve their results. Throughout the demonstration, I will be describing my thought process verbally to reinforce previously learned math skills (multiplication with decimals and whole numbers). [Cooperative Learning] The students are then given ten minutes with their groups to fill out their own worksheets and compare results for accuracy.
  Next, I explain to the students that over the weekend I had read an experiment book that taught me how to reduce the use of water. The students will be educated briefly on how the toilet automatically refills itself with water to a certain level. The concept of displacement will be introduced as a means of saving water:
  If I placed something into the tank, will the water still be filled to the same level if it’s programmed that way?
  Yes
  Who can explain how we can reduce water use now that we know this information?
  If something is placed inside the tank and it fills up to the same level each time, then we’re saving that much water per flush.
  If the students have difficulty answering this question, I will go into more detail until I’ve recognized everyone has understood the concept. The students will be posed a situation where two liter bottles filled with gravel are placed inside a tank. I will give the students a rounded measurement of liters to gallons (2 liters = 0.5 gallons). [Cooperative Learning] Joined back in their groups, they are then expected to calculate how much water is saved daily if the tank uses 0.5 gallons less per flush. Method: subtract 0.5 gallons from the amount of gallons in a tank (1.5) and then multiply that result with the number of flushes per day. This result will be subtracted from the previous daily calculations to determine how much water is saved. Students will also be questioned on another technique they could use to solve this questions (simply multiplying 0.5 by the number of flushes per day to determine how much is saved). As a class, discuss results and talk about the topic and its influences/impacts.
  
• Teacher Behaviors:
  Facilitating students with their math computations and questions by walking around the room, asking the students probing questions to short responses, and verbally working out problems to encourage strategy use.
  
• Student Behaviors:
  Working cooperatively with peers to come to conclusions and to check for accuracy. Students use each other as a resource and also participate actively in their learning by using data from their personal homes.
  
• VII. Resources/Materials:
  Video showing students how to siphon the toilet tank (can be conducted at home using: video camera, toilet, 5 ft plastic tubing, three gallon bucket, or can be accessed at coe.nevada.edu/jgalgana under Lesson Plans> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
  White board and markers
  Worksheet and pencil for each studentVIII. Six target questions identified by Bloom’s taxonomic levels:
  These questions will be used throughout the lesson.
  KNOWLEDGE: Record the measurement from the video onto your worksheet.
  COMPREHENSION: Who can retell what it means to reduce?
  APPLICATION: Calculate the amount of water saved on a daily basis when the toilet tank is filled with two liter bottles.
  ANALYSIS: Detect other resources that can be reduced in a different or similar fashion.
  SYNTHESIS: Develop methods for reducing gas use.
  EVALUATION: Decide which method we’ve discussed today that is most realistic for you to practice.IX. Anticipated length of time for lesson: One hour and twenty minutes.
  
• X. Closure
  As a review, an overhead brainstorm will be completed with the class defining Reduce and branching out into resources that can be reduced and methods in saving. For homework, the students will be given a half sheet with directions for determining water use for showers and baths.