Meteorology
Following the Water
Learning Targets
- Students will make observations about the water in their region.
- Students will observe how water is connected beyond their local region
- Students will evaluate their own potential for having an impact in places beyond their local region.
Success Criteria
- I have calculated how close I live to a body of water
- I have followed the water near where I live to see how far it goes.
- I have evaluated my impact on the local watershed and beyond.
- I have shared what I have learned about my impact on my watershed.
Following the Water - Google Earth Activity
The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans more than 64,000 square miles. It can be found in parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia. More than 18 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
This activity uses the Free Google Earth Application to locate water near the places you live and identify the path it follows toward its ultimate destination.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
There is a tremendous amount of garbage floating around in our oceans. As you found out from the Follow the Water Activity, most of it comes from trash thrown out on the land. Check out this video about the man who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Pacific Garbage Patch.pdf
Tell Somebody About It!
Use what you have learned in the Following The Water activity to tell the world about the kind of impact they could have on the world's oceans through our local water.
Learning Target
- Create a comic strip to show people what kind of positive and negative impacts they could have on their local and far-away environment.
Success Criteria
- your finished product should include:
- a claim about how trash from the land (especially plastic) can impact the ocean environment
- evidence from any of the resources we have used in the Following the Water activity
- reasoning (science facts) from the text or other sources
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-ESS2-6.
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns
of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
MS-ESS3-3.
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4.
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per- capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.