Weather Makers - Water worries

Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

Year 7 Mathematics:

• Connect fractions, decimals and percentages and carry out simple conversions (ACMNA157)
• Find percentages of quantities and express one quantity as a percentage of another, with and without digital technologies. (ACMNA158)

Year 8 Mathematics:

• Solve problems involving the use of percentages, including percentage increases and decreases, with and without digital technologies (ACMNA187)

Year 7 Geography:

• The classification of environmental resources and the forms that water takes as a resource (ACHGK037)
• The quantity and variability of Australia’s water resources compared with those in other continents (ACHGK039)
• The nature of water scarcity and ways of overcoming it, including studies drawn from Australia and West Asia and/or North Africa (ACHGK040)

Year 7 & 8 Design and Technologies:

• Examine and prioritise competing factors including social, ethical and sustainability considerations in the development of technologies and designed solutions to meet community needs for preferred futures (ACTDEK029)

General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.1.

Syllabus Outcomes: GE4-1 ,GE4-2, GE4-3, GE4-4, GE4-5, T4.1.2, T4.1.3, T4.4.1, T4.6.2.

Time required: 60 mins

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – oversee activity and facilitate discussion.

• Internet access
• student worksheet
• Blog post creation (e.g. edublogs)
• digital sharing capabilities
• Key reading from We Are the Weather Makers: Chapter 14 – Extreme Weather
• Further reading from the book: Chapter 13 – Rainfall

Cool Australia would like to acknowledge:

• Tim Flannery
• David Harding, Rose Iser, Sally Stevens
• Text Publishing and Purves Environmental Fund
• Climate Council