K20 LEARN | What's in Your Water?

Summary

In this lesson on the importance of clean water as a natural resource, students will begin by observing a polluted water source within a United States community. Next, students will explore the significance of the Ganges River and the political and religious issues that impact the ongoing struggle to maintain this important water resource for the people of India. Then, students will watch a video interview to learn how clean water issues relate to state and local communities before extending their learning with a writing activity to connect the importance of clean water to their personal lives. This lesson includes optional modifications for distance learning. Resources for use in Google Classroom are included.

Essential Question(s)

Does clean water impact more than just personal use?

Snapshot

Engage

Students examine a picture of pollution trash surrounding Lake Arcadia in Oklahoma.

Explore

Using the It's OPTIC-al and Gallery Walk strategies, students analyze several photos of pollution in and around the Ganges River in India.

Explain

Students determine how the Ganges River is used in India and what types of pollution affect the use of the river.

Extend

Students write a Two-Minute Paper about their own contributions to water pollution, then watch an interview with the president of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB).

Evaluate

Students formulate ideas about how they can support water conservation and clean-up efforts.

Materials

It's OPTIC-al Graphic Organizer student handout (attached, one per student)
Ganges River Reading (attached, one per student)
Highlighters (one per student)
Lesson Slides (attached)
Chart tablet or poster paper
Six images of Ganges River pollution

Engage

Teacher's Note: Photo Preparation

This lesson uses a variety of photos to illustrate the different ways in which the Ganges River is polluted. Prior to beginning the lesson, access this website (the full URL can also be found in the Resources below). Print the pictures that have the following captions: 1) "Though polluted, people use the river for bathing, cooking, and washing. A boy bathes among sewage foam in Uttar Pradesh," 2) "Further down the river, in Kanpur, layers of foam form among the sewage in the river," 3) "Beyond sewage, piles of garbage are dumped directly into the river, especially in urban areas where authorities do not regularly collect trash," 4) "Further South, in Kolkata, brick kilns use the clay and sediment from the river. The kilns pump noxious fumes into the air, which further exacerbates the water quality issues," 5) "Here, a man pours holy water on the polluted banks of river Ganges beside the idols of Hindu god and goddess that were immersed during the Durga Puja—a holy festival—in Kolkata," and 6) "Despite local citizens' best efforts, the river remains heavily polluted." Print these pictures as large as possible.

Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Display the title slide and introduce the lesson, then continue to slide 3. Read the essential question for the lesson, and tell students they should think about this question as they look at pictures and gather information about specific water sources. Display slide 4, showing the picture of pollution and trash in and near a lake. Ask students to observe all the details of this picture and draw a conclusion about what is going on.

Invite students to share their thoughts with an elbow partner for 1–2 minutes, and then ask partners to share what they are seeing with the whole class. Ask students to determine the photo's location. Share with the students that the picture is of Lake Arcadia, just north of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Then, ask students to think for about 30 seconds about the importance of clean water and how it might impact them. Have them share their thoughts with their partner, allowing 1–2 minutes, and then ask for volunteers to share ideas with the class. Give students about 6–8 minutes for the entire activity.

Teacher's Note: Lake Arcadia Discussion

For students who don't know where Lake Arcadia is located, explain that it is an Oklahoma lake north of Oklahoma City, near Edmond. This lake has many functions. It is used for flood control in the Deep Fork River basin, provides habitat to fish and wildlife, is used for recreation by the community, and supplies water to the city of Edmond. The point of this lesson is for students to understand the importance of water resources and how water pollution has far-reaching consequences. This lesson will use the Ganges River, a vital water resource in India, to demonstrate the impact of water resources on people. Guide student conversation toward understanding that water quality does not only impacts us personally, but also affects the environment, economy, and daily life.

Transition to the next activity by inviting students to look at water pollution and its impact elsewhere, specifically the Ganges River. You may wish for students to use their textbook atlas to locate the Ganges River in India as a point of reference.

Explore

Place the six prepared pictures of pollution of the Ganges River around the room with a large piece of poster paper next to each picture. Number the posters one through six. Number students one through six, or assign them into six working groups. Pass out a copy of the attached It's Optical Graphic Organizer to each student. Introduce the It's OPTIC-AL strategy on slide 5. Have each group report to their corresponding numbered poster. Ask groups to observe the assigned picture in detail as they did previously. Display slide 6, which explains the group assignment in detail.

Allow time for groups to complete their own poster. Then, pass out the attached It's Optical Graphic Organizer. Ask each group to write down their OPTIC notes about the pictures as they view them.

Display slide 7 and introduce the Gallery Walk/Carousel strategy. Invite student groups to rotate clockwise to another picture and fill out the OPTIC notes for the new picture. They can also add notes to the poster board about anything they observe in the picture that was not addressed.

Once all groups have rotated to every picture and completed their notes, have them return to seats, but remain with their group. Allow time for everyone to review their notes and ask questions or clear up confusion about any of the pictures. Each group should discuss the question in the "Painting a Picture" section of their graphic organizer. As a group, have students come to a consensus and draw a conclusion about what these pictures mean for this geographic region (i.e., Northern India), the present-day impact of the water situation there, and the future issues that may arise. Ask a few groups to share out their conclusions with the class.

Explain

Display slide 8. Distribute the attached Ganges River Facts Reading about the river and its uses. As students read, have them use a have them use the Categorical Highlighting strategy to analyze the reading, looking for information that could help them respond to the following questions: What is contributing to the pollution of the Ganges River? What efforts have been made to clean up the Ganges River? Once students have finished reading and highlighting, have them share what they highlighted with an elbow partner, and then ask a few pairs to share their answers with the class.

Possible Student Responses to the Categorical Highlighting Activity

Based on the reading, students should highlight information that answers each question. What is contributing to the pollution of the Ganges River? Possible answers: Hindu people bathing in the river, immersing cremated ashes in the river, 400 million people who live close to the river, tourist activities that put people and machines in the water, industrial waste, religious offerings wrapped in plastic, raw sewage, toxic metals and pesticides from industrial pollution, dumping tanning chemicals, people's daily use of bathing, washing clothes, agricultural use, and resulting waste. What efforts have been made to clean up the pollution? Possible answers include: Setting up programs to reduce industrial waste, and building sewage treatment plants. Highlight the fact that local and state governments have not been able to handle the magnitude of the work, the lack of accountability and government oversight, as well as corruption by government officials, and the difficulty in garnering local support for conservation. In addition, the Hindu spiritual belief that the Ganges can heal itself also hinders efforts.

If there is any information you feel the students still need to know, or if you feel that they didn't get the necessary information from the pictures and the reading, inform them about the pollution of the Ganges more in-depth. Tell students that what they see happening with the Ganges River isn't unique to India, but that water pollution is an international and national concern. Water pollution, like they saw at Lake Arcadia in Oklahoma, is also a state and local concern.

Extend

Display slide 9. Ask students to think back to the picture of Lake Arcadia and consider the questions: "What role do you play in water conservation and water pollution?" and "What impact does water conservation and water pollution have on more than just our personal use?" Have students answer these two questions with a Two-Minute Paper strategy on notebook paper.

After their two minutes of writing, tell students they will watch an interview with the president of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB), Julie Cunningham. Go to slide 10 to play the video, titled “ICAP - What’s in Your Water?” In the video, Cunningham addresses some of our state's water conservation and pollution issues, and ways the Oklahoma Water Resource Board works to clean up and conserve water.

Evaluate

Display slide 11. After showing the video of the OWRB interview, have students add additional information to their Two-Minute Paper discussing how they can support efforts to clean, protect, and conserve water based upon any information they picked up from the video.

Possible assessments and products of this lesson include the It's OPTIC-al Graphic Organizer and Painting a Picture activity, along with the Two-Minute Paper (or optional Flipgrid assignment).

Resources

Berke, J. (2018, March 3). India's holy Ganges River is devastatingly polluted, yet provides drinking water for over 400 million people — here's what it looks like. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-indias-ganges-river-pollution-2018-1
City of Edmond. (n.d.). Arcadia Lake. Edmondok.com. https://edmondok.com/338/Arcadia-Lake
Ganges facts for kids. (n.d.). Kids encyclopedia facts. Kiddle. https://kids.kiddle.co/Ganges
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. Categorical highlighting. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/fc74060730ea745c8c4f356aa204c85d
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. Elbow partners. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/ccc07ea2d6099763c2dbc9d05b00c4b4
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. Gallery walk/carousel. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f505a54d
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. It's OPTIC-al. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/b30762a7557ba0b391f207f4c600eac6
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. Think, pair, share. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5064b49
K20 center. (n.d.). Strategies. Two-minute paper. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f506cf73
K20 center. (2020, February 13). ICAP - What's in your water [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/P4BAvdIznV4
Scarr, S., Cai. W., Kumar, V. & Pal, A. (2019). The race to save the river Ganges. Reuters. https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-RIVER/010081TW39P/index.html
Shlotthauer, K. (2018). Trash piles up at Arcadia Lake--Edmond's main source of drinking water [Photo]. The Oklahoman. https://oklahoman.com/article/5599714/trash-piles-up-at-arcadia-lake

Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

What's in Your Water?

Ganges River Pollution