Construct water filtration station (Casey Hayes)

Author(s)

Casey Hayes

NGSS Engineering Standards

NGSS Engineering Standards

Although we often do not think about water because it is so readily available in the area that we live, but many places do not have access to clean water and many people get sick from drinking that water. There are already several different ways to clean the water such as camping gear and water filters already in place there are several other methods to clean water. Can students start to clean water from sand and soil? which method would work best. Can students collaborate to make the best filter

Materials needed

• Water bottle

• coffee filter

• gravel of 4 different varieties

• pasta

• coffee filters

• food coloring

• dirty water

• drainage cup

Procedure

1. Students will be given background information on how a filter is use and where people might use them. Other applications are welcome to help explain.

2. Teacher will lay out all of the materials for students to view, but before they start they will have to plan what order they might put their filter media.

3. Students will go into small groups to help build a filter in 10 minutes.

4. The groups will all have dirty water filtered through the cup, and then they will do a gallery walk to see how all of the filters worked. After they see the best design they will design a second model.

5. Class will go through at the end of the second design challenge to see what they came up with in terms of future revisions. Each group will need to construct a report on the effectiveness of the original design. They will need to record their progress

Conductivity Tester

Total Dissolved Solids Sensor

Questions

• How can you make your project better. Could you make this into a real world application? what would you need?

• Upon reflecting, how would you change your original project, and with unlimited resources what would you add?

1. Discuss with students how to use the conductivity tester:

   • Do not allow the two exposed metal ends (the wire coming from the battery snap connector and the multimeter lead) to touch. This could cause the battery to overheat or the multimeter to malfunction.

   • The distance leads are from the bottom of the container and the distance leads are from each other will affect the current readings.

   • Make sure all students agree on a consistent distance for measurement, e.g., place leads 1 cm from the bottom of 100 mL beakers and keep them on opposite sides against the glass.

   • Gently swish the fluid in the container immediately before taking a reading, then count to 10 and record the mA value.

   • Clean and dry the leads between every test.

   • Students should briefly practice using the conductivity testers in known solutions (tap water, saline solution, etc.) to ascertain facility with the devices and verify device functionality.

Photos