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179 Pages·2011·11.41 MB·English

by  Lisa Mitchell

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH (STEM) UNIT PLAN
Water & Global
Responsibility
Youth Educators’ Manual
CAWST is a Canadian humanitarian organization CAWST’s Youth Wavemakers is a unique program
focused on the principle that clean water dedicated to Canadian youth. Wavemakers informs,
changes lives. Safe water and basic sanitation are engages, encourages action, and celebrates the
fundamentals necessary to empower the world’s impact that youth are having on local and global
poorest people and break the cycle of poverty. water issues.
CAWST believes that the place to start is to teach

people the skills they need to have safe water in their
homes. CAWST transfers knowledge and skills to
organizations and individuals in developing countries
through education, training and consulting services.
This ever expanding network can motivate individual
households to take action to meet their own water
and sanitation needs.
Last Update: November 2018
One of CAWST’s core strategies is to make knowledge about water common knowledge. This is achieved, in part, by developing and freely
distributing education materials with the intent of increasing its availability to those who need it most.
This document is open content and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Contents
Acronyms 2
Introduction 3
How to use this Manual 4
Lesson Plans 11
1 Basic Needs 12
2 Initial Concept Drawing 14
3 Water Cycle 16
4 Tikho’s Story: Part 1 20
5 What is Help? 23
6 Tikho’s Story: Part 2 26
7 Water Treatment 29
8 Introduction to Spatial Literacy 38
9 Water Audit 41
1
10 How did the Boy get Sick? Part 1 47
11 Geographic Concept Map 52
12 Final Concept Drawing 54
13 Local Global Three Pile Sorting 58
14 Water Quality Testing 61
15 Wetland Visit 67
16 Water Filtration and Appropriate Technology 70
17 Art & Water Stories 76
18 Taking Photographs 79
19 Photo Essay 81
20 Tikho’s Story: Part 3 89
21 Water Walk 91
22 How did the Boy get Sick? Part 2 96
23 Understanding Humanitarian Design 100
Activities 107
1 One Well 108
2 Journaling on Water Issues 109
3 G uest Speaker Guiding Notes
on Water in a Developing Country 112
4 Day in a Life 119
Appendix 1: Curriculum Links 125
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Acronyms
AC Activities
CAWST Centre for Affordable Water and
Sanitation Technology
LP Lesson Plan
SC Suggested Activities
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
2
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Introduction
The Water and Global Responsibility STEM unit plan was designed out of a unique partnership between the University
School in Calgary, the University of Calgary and CAWST. The unit plan is the product of a two year science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) project, developed by Dr. Susan Crichton and Dave Irvine-Halliday at the University of
Calgary. It was implemented by the grade 5 and 6 teachers at the University School: Joe Barnett, Laura Lee Smart, and Patti
Acorn with the assistance of two doctoral students: Lynn Moorman and Brown Onguko, and CAWST.
The goal of the STEM project was to encourage young people to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics with a particular focus on increasing the participation of young women in engineering. The specific objectives
included:
n Help students gain an understanding and appreciation for careers in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM).
n Foster an understanding of the importance of global citizenship and issues of social justice.
n Encourage students to develop personal efficacy – recognizing they can solve complex problems and make a difference
in their world.
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n Catalyze students to think globally and act locally.
n Encourage inquiry.
n Encourage girls to continue their interest in STEM
through issues of social justice, global citizenship,
and proactive problem solving.
In the first year of the project, children paired with
student mentors in the faculty of engineering to design
prototypes of appropriate technologies, meant to assist
children in the developing world to meet their basic
needs. In the second year they looked specifically at
the issues of water and sanitation, comparing local
and global situations and assuming the roles of project
managers for the deployment of the biosand filter in a
school in rural Western Kenya.
The project focused on inquiry-based learning, encouraging students to formulate questions, investigate to find answers,
build new understanding and communicate and assess their learning. It encouraged the exploration of real problems and the
development of real solutions.
At the end of the project CAWST worked collaboratively with the teachers of the University School to document lesson
plans and lessons learned, and to develop the unit plan on Water and Global Citizenship STEM unit plan.
We encourage you to explore the lessons in this unit with your students and to share your innovations.
1: INTRODUCTION
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
How to use this Manual
In this section you will find an overview of each of the lessons, activities, and resources and a prescribed timetable for the
Water & Global Responsibility Unit Plan. A detailed description of the curriculum links in each of the lessons can be found in
the appendix, in the curriculum link table. The multi-media resources required to complete the lessons can be found on CAWST’s
Wavemakers website at: cawst.org/wavemakers.
You can follow the prescribed unit timetable or combine lessons and activities to meet the specific needs of your class.
Overview
Table 1: Lesson Plans
# Lesson Plan Description Page
1 Basic Needs Students identify their basic needs. They imagine that they crashed in a 12
plane in an unknown location with no communication and discuss what
they would need to survive.
2 Initial Concept Drawing Students draw a picture of where their water comes from based on their 14
existing knowledge. This lesson should be used at the beginning of the unit
4 to assess students’ base level of understanding.
3 Water Cycle Students build a model to explore the different parts of the water cycle. 16
4 Tikho’s Story: Part 1 This is a multi-part lesson that introduces students to the multimedia 20
presentation Tikho’s Story. As an introduction to the presentation, this
lesson encourages students to focus on the story of Tikho and the message
that she is sharing with others.
5 What is Help? This multi-class lesson encourages students to think about multiple 23
meanings and manifestations of help by considering different scenarios in
videos, songs, and their own experience. Each of the activities in the lesson
can be done on a separate day, as part of an ongoing conversation and
exploration of the concept of help.
6 Tikho’s Story : Part 2 In Tikho’s story: Part 2, students watch the first half of Tikho’s Story to learn 26
about how water can be contaminated and to find specific sources of
contamination that appear in the story.
7 Water Treatment In this lesson students learn how to keep their water safe through the 29
multi-barrier approach. They identify the steps by reflecting on what they
know about municipal water treatment and then look at how these steps
can be replicated at a household level.
8 Spatial Literacy This lesson plan is designed to foster geographic awareness and context to 38
a problem at hand. It encourages students to create their own connections
between a familiar place and conditions and an unfamiliar place and
conditions. It is crucial for situating issues like water accessibility or disaster.
9 Water Audit In this activity students use a water audit to determine how much water 41
their family uses. They compare their water use to water use in other
countries, and look at ways that they can conserve water.
10 How did the Boy get Sick? Part 1 Students use picture cards to create a story that shows how pathogens 47
from our waste can make us sick and how we can block their transmission.
2: HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
# Lesson Plan Description Page
11 Geographic Concept Map In this lesson, students are encouraged to review, clarify and organize their 52
geographic knowledge of an area by creating a concept map. It is useful
either as a starting point to uncover students’ prior knowledge or near the
end of a unit to make their geographic learning visible.
12 Final Concept Drawing This lesson should be used at the end of the STEM unit to assess students’ 54
understanding of where their water comes from. The concept drawing
allows them to consolidate concepts that they have developed through
field trips activities and lessons during the STEM unit.
13 Global and Local 3-pile sort In this activity students sort cards under the categories of good, bad or in- 58
between to evaluate different behaviours related to water, sanitation and
hygiene and compare practices globally and locally.
14 Water Quality testing This lesson exposes students to three forms of water quality testing to 61
give them an understanding of how we determine whether water is safe to
drink.
15 Wetland visit In this lesson students visit a local wetland to learn about creatures that live 67
in a wetland environment and to build an understanding of the dependency
that all living things have on water.
16 Water filtration and appropriate This lesson is an excellent complement to lesson 7 (Water treatment). 70
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technology Students review the multi-barrier approach from the water treatment
lesson, and then learn how to build their own water filter.
17 Art and water stories Students create an art project focused on water. They select a compelling 76
picture about water, cut the picture in half and reproduce the second side
of the picture. They then write a story about what the image is telling them.
18 Taking photographs Students learn the characteristics of a good photograph and practice 79
taking photographs. This lesson is a part of a series working towards the
development of a photo essay on water and should be done prior to the
photo essay lesson.
19 Photo essay Students learn to create stories from images as they look at the way they 81
use water each day. By using photos taken by youth in Haiti as an example,
they also learn how people in Haiti interact with water, and the power of
images to tell a story.
20 Tikho’s story: Part 3 Students watch the second half of the Tikho’s Story presentation to look for 89
solutions that the community is implementing to stop people form getting
sick from their water. They then consider whether these solutions could be
used in their own community.
21 Water walk Students carry water around the school grounds to experience what it is 91
like for many children around the world that need to collect water for their
family’s survival. This lesson builds empathy and a deeper understanding of
the global water crisis.
22 How did the Boy get Sick? Part 2 Students learn to block the transmission routes that they identifies in the 96
stories they created in lesson 10 (How did the boy get sick? Part 1)
23 Humanitarian design Humanitarian design includes multiples lessons that are best explained 100
as one large lesson to see the flow and logic between critical stages in
student learning. In this lesson students design and evaluate appropriate
technologies that can help meet basic needs.
2: HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Table 2: Activities
Activities are used individually or as a part of a larger lesson plan. They do not include direct curriculum links or learning
expectations.
# Activity Description Page
1 One Well One Well is a book full of colorful illustrations and fun statistics about 108
water. This activity provides suggestions on how to keep students
engaged during the book readings, and what they can do to reflect on the
content.
2 Journaling Journaling is a central activity in this STEM unit plan. This activity 109
describes two common styles of journaling and provides multiple
suggestions of activities and leads for stimulating journal responses.
3 Guest speaker guiding notes Guest speakers are an important resource in this unit. This activity 112
provides speakers with a list of questions that can get them prepared to
talk about global water issues in your classroom.
4 A day in the life In this activity students are exposed to the life of a person in a developing 119
country and their relationship to water through a book, video photos
or a PowerPoint presentation. They use a Venn diagram or table to
compare their life with the life of the other person, and explore common
challenges.
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2: HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Table 3: Resources
These resources are used as part of the lesson plans and activities suggested. They can also serve as the bases of new
curricular content.
# Resource Description
1 Tikho’s Story Tikho’s Story is used throughout the STEM unit plan. This multimedia presentation
tells the story of a young girl from Zambia and how her community is working to
improve their access to safe drinking water.
2 Q&A with Tikho An excellent video to share with your students once they have watched Tikho’s Story.
This is a video of Tikho answering multiple questions directed to her by the students
at the University School.
3 Nii Kwei’s Day This book is part of a series of photographic information books concentrating on
the daily lives and experiences of children in countries around the world. The book
describes the day in the life of a boy from Ghana. It is an excellent resource for
Activity 4 (a day in the life).
4 Our world of water This book follows the daily lives of children in Peru, Mauritania, the United States,
Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Tajikistan, and explores what water means to them. Where
does it come from? How do they use it?
5 One well One well is part of CitizenKid: a collection of books that inform children about the
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world and inspires them to be better global citizens. One well shows how every one of
us has the power to conserve and protect our global well.
6 Mama Miti Mama Miti tells the true story of Wangari Muta Maathai, who in 1977 founded an
African grassroots organization that has empowered many people to mobilize and
combat environmental degradation. With each page turned, children will realize their
own ability to positively impact the future.
7 Owen and Mzee In December 2004, a frightened young hippo, separated from his family by a
devastating tsunami, bonded with an Aldabra tortoise named Mzee. The 130-year old
tortoise accepted Owen as his own, and an inseparable bond was forged.
Through this book, we can see hope reach around the world, and feel its power to
change us all.
8 Hope is an open heart Speaking to people of all ages, across all cultures, these words and images celebrate
loving families, caring friends, small kindnesses, and great inner strength. Through this
book, we can all see hope reach around the world, and feel its power to change us all.
9 If the Earth…were a few feet “If the Earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field
in diameter somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it”. So begins a
deceptively simple verse with an urgent message for the human race. If we could only
grasp the wonder of Earth, we might see it for the precious miracle it is. The delightful
paintings by Wilson McLean convey the scientific, the physical and the spiritual
expression of love for our planet.
2: HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
CAWST Wavemakers Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit
Unit Plan
The Water & Global Responsibility STEM Unit is focused on three essential questions:
1 How do we share one planet?
2 How can we use our voice?
3 How can we solve problems in challenging contexts?
Modules 1 and 2 examine Essential Questions 1 and 2. Module 3 focuses on Essential Question 3. Within each unit there
also a number of key questions that weave throughout the lessons. The key questions are outlined in the timetable.
Each module in the unit is four weeks, but can be modified to accommodate a shorter timeframe.
The timetable includes the following elements:
n Lesson Plans: curriculum linked lessons designed to meet specific learning outcomes.
n Activities: resources that can be incorporated into lesson plans and used multiple times throughout the unit.
n Suggested Activities: resources that can easily be incorporated but that do not include detailed instructions.
n Assessment: lesson plans that lend well to student assessment and generally include rubrics or recommended
8 techniques for assessment.
Refer to the tables in this section for a brief description of each of these elements. Similar to the timetable, these elements
can be adapted to meet the specific needs of your class.
Table 4: Water & Global Responsibility Timetable
Module 1 Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Essential Question: LP1 Basic Needs LP6 Tikho’s Story – LP8 Spatial Literacy LP11 Geographic
How do we share one LP2 Initial Concept Part 2 AC2 Journaling** Concept Map
planet? Map SA V isit to local LP9 Water Audit** LP12 Final Concept
Key Questions: LP3 Water Cycle water treatment Map**
1 What do we need AC1 One Well plant AC2 Journaling**
to survive? AC2 Journaling** LP7 Water Treatment
2 How does where AC3 Guest Speaker
on water
we live affect what
situation in
we have & do?
a developing
3 Where does our
country
water come from?
AC2 Journaling**
4 How do we make
water safe to drink?
5 How do we use
water?
2: HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL