Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: Activating prior knowledge

20 minutes

Part B: What is the water cycle?

20 minutes

Part C: Water cycle experiments

50 minutes

Part D: Lungs of the planet

10 minutes

Reflection

Part A. Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Invite students to THINK PAIR SHARE the answers to the following questions:

What is the relationship between the ocean and the air we breathe?
What activities do you do that are NOT dependent on water in some way?
True or false: You are drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank. Explain your answer.
What is the water cycle and what do all these questions have to do with the water cycle?

Think Pair Share
Think pair share is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question.

Think - Students independently think about an issue or questions and record their thoughts.
Pair - Students work in pairs to discuss their ideas and record new thoughts.
Share - Students share their thoughts with the whole group or with other pairs to reach consensus.

Step 2.

Once students have worked together to answer the questions, invite students to share their answers with the class through a class discussion. Record key ideas on the board, and invite students to consider the following points:

The water cycle is the process by which water circulates through the atmosphere, the ocean, and the land.
There is a fixed amount of water in this cycle, which means that all the water on Earth has been here since the Earth was formed.
We need water for just about everything we do – we need it for growing food and medicine, for producing the goods we use in our daily lives, and most importantly, for breathing.
Scientists believe that between 50% and 85% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere is produced by phytoplankton, tiny ocean plants that live near the surface of the water and that drift with ocean currents.

Part B. What is the Water Cycle?

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will be focusing on the water cycle in more detail, and thinking about how healthy oceans are integral to a healthy water cycle.

Begin by asking students to watch the following clip (also available on the Student Worksheet). As they watch students need to record the key steps in the water cycle and make notes in reference to each of these key steps (i.e. what they are or examples of how they work).

You could stop the clip at 1:30 mins. The remainder of the clip describes an experiment that demonstrated the water cycle. Your students may find this useful in the contexts of the experiments they will be conducting themselves later in the lesson. But watching this section is not essential.

The Great Aqua Adventure: Crash Course Kids (https://youtu.be/z5G4NCwWUxY)

Step 2.

Once complete, invite students to work in pairs to discuss and answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet). Each student must record their own set of answers in their own words. Suggested answers below:

What is the water cycle?
Suggested answer: The water cycle describes the way water cycles around through and above the Earth. It explains how water evaporates from the Earth’s surface, moves up into the atmosphere, condenses in clouds, and falls again to Earth as precipitation.
What is evaporation?
Suggested answer: Evaporation describes the process that sees water change from a liquid to a gas. When the sun heats water on the surface of the Earth (e.g. the ocean, lakes or rivers) enough energy is generated to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules. These individual molecules then rise up into the atmosphere in the form of steam or vapour.
What is condensation?
Suggested answer: Condensation describes the process of water changing from a gas to liquid. Water vapour cools as it rises, causing the water molecules to come together to form tiny water droplets which merge together to create clouds.
What is precipitation?
Suggested answer: As more water cools and condenses it becomes too heavy for the air to support it. Gravity then draws the water out of the sky as precipitation, where it falls to Earth as rain, hail, sleet or snow.
What is transpiration?
Suggested answer: Transpiration describes the process of water being evaporated from plants, resulting in more water vapour rising into the atmosphere.
What is infiltration?
Suggested answer: Infiltration occurs when water falls back to earth and is absorbed into the ground, becoming groundwater.

In addition, distribute or display the following diagram to students and invite each student to create a similar one in their workbooks:

They should then work in pairs to annotate their diagram with the stages of the water cycle: transpiration, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. They may need to replay certain parts of the clip to research where some of the labels belong.

Alternatively, print the Water Cycle Diagram - Blank and invite students to annotate it.

Once complete, distribute or display the following diagram and discuss students' answers:

Part C. Water Cycle Experiments

Preparation

You will need to set up one workstation for each of the four experiments. Ensure that you have collected and set up the equipment beforehand.

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will be working in groups to conduct an experiment related to the water cycle. Each group will be given a set of instructions for a different experiment that they must follow.

Students will have the chance to conduct the experiment within their group. Based on this they will need to create a presentation that describes what is happening in their experiment (the processes/parts of the water cycle being demonstrated) and conduct a re-run of the experiment for the class.

Break the class into four groups and assign one of the following experiments to each group:

Each group should conduct their experiment and answer the questions on their experiment sheet.

Where possible, encourage students to use recycled materials or materials that can be recycled in their experiments.

Step 2.

Once each group has had the chance to test their experiment and decide what adjustments need to be made to improve it, each group needs to repeat their experiment in front of the class, describing what they are doing and what is happening as they go. The group demonstrating will need to explain to the audience how their experiment relates to the water cycle and what part of the water cycle it represents.

Students watching need to use the space provided on the Student Worksheet to record their thoughts about the experiments they are observing.

In addition, invite the audience to record any questions they have during the demonstrations and ask them once the experiment is complete.

You can use the following sheet to clarify interpretations of what happened in the experiments: Water Cycle Experiments - What Happened?.

Step 3.

Once complete, invite all students to consider the following questions:

How useful were these experiments in helping to explain the water cycle?
How could any of these experiments have been improved?
What questions do you still have about the water cycle?

Part D. Lungs of the Planet

Step 1.

Invite students to watch the following and participate in a guided discussion around the clip.

Allow students to watch the clip through once uninterrupted. You can watch it a second time pausing at the timings below to engage students in the guided discussion.

What is the role of the ocean? (https://vimeo.com/1056609624/add45a78eb)

Guided discussion suggested timings and topics:

0:39 - What do you think Lucas means when he describes the oceans as being "the lungs of the planet"?
1:23 - Our oceans produce half of the air we breathe: How does this happen?
Suggested answer: About 28% of the Earth’s oxygen comes from rainforests, but 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants (the other 2% come from other sources). Phytoplankton, kelp, and algal plankton all produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis.
1:44 - Our oceans absorb a third of C0₂ emissions produced by our industrial world: What does this mean?
Suggested answer: CO₂ emissions are produced by burning fossil fuels (e.g. coal and oil); activities which are required for most of the things we now use and need. Ocean waters absorb vast amounts of CO₂ (about a quarter of the CO₂ we release each year), and over the last 200 years the ocean has absorbed around a third of the CO₂ produced by human activities. While this has been good news for humans because it has slowed the pace of climate change, it has been bad news for the oceans.
2:32 - How different would life on Earth be without oceans?

In addition, invite students to reflect on the clip using the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How did this clip make you feel and why?
What was most interesting or inspiring about this clip?
What were the main messages of the clip and how relevant are they to you?
What questions do you still have about this clip?

Step 2.

Now explain to students that they will be exploring the idea of the ocean being the planet’s lungs in more detail. Working in groups, students are invited to create a communication piece that describes their thoughts and ideas on the following statement: 'Our Oceans - The lungs of our planet'

You could allow students to decide on what format they want to present their ideas in (e.g. poster, infographic, video or podcast) or you could choose a format for them.

In their communication pieces, groups should include the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How the oceans are (or aren’t) the lungs of our planet, including supporting research and conclusions drawn from experiments
Supporting imagery or audio material in support of their position
Scientific terminology where appropriate
References (remembering the Search strategies for Googling)

You could also give groups a copy of this Communication Piece Assessment Rubric so they have an idea of what is expected of them.

Step 3.

Invite each group to present their work to the class. Students can use copies of the Communication Piece Assessment Rubric to assess the works of other groups (or you can be responsible for assessment). If students are assessing, remind them to provide feedback that is helpful, kind and specific:

Tips for providing feedback

Be kind - It can be hard to share your ideas with others, so remain kind and supportive.
Be specific - Be clear about what you think and why. Rather than saying, ‘I like the colours, ’ say something like ‘, I like the ways those colours help create a mood that supports your message.
Be helpful - Try not to say what is strong or weak, but also make suggestions about how things could be improved.

Reflection

Finally, invite students to work independently to answer the following Reflection Questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How were the ideas presented in this lesson connected to what I already knew?
What ideas presented were new to me or extended my thinking?
What is still a challenge for me? What questions do I now have?

Take It Further

Invite students to apply their learning in a real world context by participating in the Social Action lesson of this unit.

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

Teacher Reflection

What did you learn about your teaching today?

What worked well?
What didn’t work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Blue - The Role of the Ocean in the Water Cycle

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Summary

Learning intentions:

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Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

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