Pass the Jug...Or Not.

So we didn't get to play in the creek as planned...

C'est la vie...

...BUT we did get to play with some fantastic activities from the Project WET textbook. My group had the fortune of playing with the Pass the Jug activity (p. 392-96 in the Project WET text).

As I've stated before, many, if not most/all, of the Project WET activities can be integrated across subject areas fairly easily. What I really liked about my group's activity was that beyond giving students a physical, observable (i.e. easily graspable) representation of water rights and distribution, there are many different directions a teacher might be able to take this activity. For instance, it could be integrated with social studies and current events for the higher grade levels, opening up the possibility for discussion and student-driven research into current problems (such as the recent drought in California) and possible solutions to those problems. 

I do not envy these guys right now.

Now, I have a confession to make. After seeing the fantastic effort put into their activities by my classmates, I feel like I could have done a (MUCH) better job at preparing for this activity. I really wish I had looked more closely into the extensions for the activity and used food coloring to better illustrate the affect of upstream activities on downstream users and water sources (and I'm sure the rest of the class wishes I had gone with the text's suggested version of the activity for K-2nd grade, which uses candy instead of water to illustrate water distribution rights. I wonder why...?).

The other activities were all fantastic, and I truly enjoyed every one of them. However, if I were to pick a favorite, it would have to have been the Water Olympics activity. This activity reminded me once again why Project WET is just so cool; used in a classroom, this is a great activity to introduce the physical properties of water in its liquid state and the concept of surface tension. It can also be a fun, engaging way to review these concepts before a test or to informally assess student understanding midway through a unit.