|
| |  | SCI-LIT LINKS QUICKPLAN
MUDDY WATERS
(QuickPlan developed by Vera F. Benjelloun, Rabat, Morocco)
|
OVERVIEW: In the book Dirt Boy, Fister Farnello loved dirt so much that he ate it, played in it and refused get rid of it. He finally takes a bath. Children will design, build a water filter and use it to clean muddy water.
BOOKLINK: Dirt Boy by Erik Jon Slangerup, Albert Whitman and Company, 2000. ISBN 0-8075-4424-8
SCIENCE ACTIVITY LINK: Teams of four students will compare different ways to clean muddy water. They will construct a water filter to clean a water sample. They will determine which filter works best.
OBJECTIVE: Students will construct their own water filters to clean muddy water and compare the results to other filters.
SCIENCE PROCESSES AND CONTENT: Processes-Observing, predicting, inferring, communicating, collecting and recording data, and classifying. Content-systems and subsystems, properies of objects and materials, properties of Earth materials, technological design, science and technology in local challenges.
NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (2) Physical Science, (4) Earth and Space Science, (5) Science and Technology, (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
MATERIALS: For each team of four: 10 cotton balls, 1-9 oz. plastic cup, 2 plastic cups with holes in bottom, 1 plastic screen. For the whole group: 1 colander, 8 1 oz. plastic cups, 10 9 oz. plastic cups, 1 bag of gravel, 1 pail, 1 roll of paper towels, 1 pitcher, 1 bag of sand, 1 sieve, and 1 large container of pond water with muddy debris.
PROCEDURE:
1. Read the book, Dirt Boy to the class. Towards the end, invite the children to describe what Fister's bathwater might look like now that he is clean. Ask the children if they have an idea what is inside the tubwater after Fister's bath.
2. Show them the muddy water you collected. Explain that the class will try to find out what is inside this pond water and clean the water in the process. First demonstrate the following activity to your whole class. Show the pitcher of dirty water to your class. Ask them to predict ways to clean the water. Point to the materials you set out on the table: the colander and the sieve. Hold each object up showing the holes. Ask the class if the sieve and colander will do a good job of cleaning the water. Ask them to predict which will make the water cleaner. Pour some muddy water through the colander. Then pour the "cleaned" water into a plastic cup.
Repeat the procedure using the sieve. Ask which cup has the cleaner water. Guide the students to understand why the sieve did a better job in "cleaning" the water. Ask, "Which of these has the most debris in it? Why do you think the sieve did a better job?"
3. Introduce the word FILTER to the class, asking if anyone can define it. Have the class go into their teams. Give each team 1 9-oz. plastic cup, 2 cups with holes in them, a screen and 10 cotton balls. To build the water filter, have each team take the two plastic cups with holes in them and place ten cotton balls in one cup and a plastic screen in the other. Tell them to place the cup with the screen inside the cup with cotton balls., Distribute 1/4 cup of sand to each team and have a member pour this into the cup with the screen. Next distribute 1/4 cup of gravel and pour this on top of the sand layer. Distribute one cup of muddy water to each team. Tell them to slowly pour the water into their filter, catching the flow in the 9-oz. cup, and observe and record the results.
4. When they finish filtering their water, compare the filtered water with that from the sieve. Ask, "Which produced cleaner water, the water filter or the sieve? Why do you think the water filter worked better?" Explain that filters only let materials (debris) in the water that are smaller than the spaces between the objects (sand, gravel, screen, cotton) pass through. Gravel catches the biggest particles; sand catches the next biggest particles; screen catches next, and, finally, cotton traps the smallest particles. Save the cleaned water. You may ask your students to take their filters apart to investigate which particles were caught at each level.
5. If you wish, you may make your own filter and "clean" one team's clean water once more. Compare this with the another team's water.
6. You may then want to extend this activity and connect it to your dirt/soil unit. If you are not certain about the contents of your pond water, you may make your own muddy water by mixing dirt, twigs, leaves, small rocks, charcoal, dead insects etc... with regular tap water.
SAFETY: Make sure the things you put in are not harmful to children.
Have the children wash their hands after the investigation. Instruct them to not put any of the investigative materials into their mouths.
RELATED BOOKS:
Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole, Scholastic, Inc.,1995. ISBN 0590403605
Dirt is Delightful by Janelle Clarington, Simon & Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0689823878
We Love Dirt by Tony Johnston, Scholastic, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0590929534
A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial, Walker and Company, 2000. ISBN 0802786987
I Love Dirt by Shelley Nielsen, ABRO Publishing, 1993. ISBN 1562391887
|
| | | QuickPlans |  |
| Training
Sessions |  |
| | News |  |
| Questions &
Answers |  |
|
| |
