Water Related Activities For Educators And Learners

WATER RELATED ACTIVITIES FOR EDUCATORS AND LEARNERS

TOPIC: WATER SUPPLY

ACTIVITY 1: FILL IN THE BLANKS

 Study the picture of the Water Cycle and fill in the blanks:

Water from soil, rivers, dams, estuaries and the sea, all E - - P - - A – E S into the

air. This air cools and C – N – E – S – S to form C – O - - S. The water then falls

back to Earth as R - - -, snow or hail. This is known as P - - C – P – T – T – O N. This is the NATURAL WATER CYCLE.

 Trace the source of our water and complete the following:

From the mountain water flows into R – V – E – S then collects in D - - S. From here

the water goes to a W – T - -W - - K S to get P – R – F – - D . The clean safe water

is then stored in a R - - E – V - -R. From here it is pumped through pipes to

eventually come out our T – - S. The used water is known as

W – - T – W - – E R. This goes down our D - - I – S to a wastewater T – - A – M - - T works for R – C - - L – N G. The treated water is then

discharged back into R - - E – V - -R S and oceans.

ACTIVITY 2: COMPLETE THE WORKSHEET

Make copies of the following worksheet and distribute them to learners for them to complete. ACTIVITY 3: POSTER MAKING

 Divide the class into groups and ask each group to design a poster explaining/showing the natural water cycle and the man made water cycle.  Each group has to present their poster to the rest of the class once it is finished.

ACTIVITY 4: MAKING MODELS

1. MAKE YOUR OWN WATER CYCLE Ask learner to set up their own evaporation/condensation chamber to simulate the Natural Water cycle. This may be a group or individual activity.

You will need:

 One plastic 2 litre cool drink bottle  One plastic 500ml cool drink bottle  Scissors  Cling wrap/plastic film  Salt  2 small stones

Make Your Water Cycle as Follows: 1. With the scissors carefully cut the 2litre plastic bottle 20cm from the bottom and cut the 500ml plastic bottle 10cm from the bottom.

2. Place the 500ml plastic” cup” inside the 2litre plastic “cup”. Put one of the small stones inside the 500ml plastic” cup” to weight it down.

3. Mix some salt into water and pour this salty water into the 2 litre plastic “cup”

4. Cover the top of the 2 litre plastic “cup” with cling wrap. Place a stone in the centre of the cling wrap so that the cling wrap sags slightly in the centre above the 500ml plastic “cup”

5. Allow the model to stand for a day or two.

6. Observe the following:  What do you see on the cling film?  Does water drip into the 500ml plastic cup from the cling film?  Is this water salty or not? 2. MAKE YOUR OWN WATER WORKS THAT WORKS (This model was developed by Dr. Rob O’ Donoghue)

3. MAKE YOUR OWN SAND FILTER Many water works around the world have sand filter beds through which the water is filtered as part of the treatment process. Make your own simple sand filter .Avoid drinking the water after it has been through your sand filter as there may be harmful bacteria.

You will need:

 three plastic 2 litre cool drink bottles  fine sand  coarse sand  small pebbles  scissors  4 plastic straws

Make Your Sand Filter as Follows:

1. Cut the bottom of one of the 2 litre plastic bottles. With the scissors punch three holes into the plastic lid. Cut one of the other plastic 2 litre bottles in half.

2. Screw the plastic lid with holes in it back onto the bottle with no bottom. Invert this bottle;e inot the halved 2 litre plastic bottle. Cut the plastic starws into 1cm pieces, and drop them into the top of your 2 litre plastic bottle. Carefully fill up your bottle with one third fine sand and one third coarse sand, leaving a third for the water. Place the pebbles on top of the coarse sand.

3. In the third 2 litre bottle fill it up two thirds with water, and then pour sand and grass into the bottle as well. Scew the top back on and shake it up so that the water looks brown and dirty

4. Pour this water into the top of your sand filter.

5. Observe the following:  What colour is the water the water when it comes out the other end?  Is the water a lighter/darker shade of brown before you poured it in?  Where is all the sand and grass? What function does the sand serve in the filter? ACTIVITY 5: FIELD TRIPS

 Make arrangements for your class to visit one or all of the following: 1. A dam that supplies your area to see how it is constructed and how it functions. 2. Your local water works 3. Your local wastewater works.

 Design a questionnaire to distribute to the learners as form of evaluation/assessment of the visit. The following is an example of such a questionnaire: TOPIC: WATER BORNE DISEASES

ACTIVITY 1: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

1. Ask the learners to observe other learners during the school break or people within their community to determine if they practice good hygiene at school. Report back on their observations.

2. Assist your class in designing a survey to discover if people are aware how important it is to keep their toilets in good working condition and also if they practice good hygiene. Divide the class into small groups. Let each group prepare a presentation to report back to the class a. They must report back on their findings after analyzing the data they have collected. b. If good hygiene is not being practiced, they could go on and Health and Hygiene Education Drive at school/for the community. c. Get Learners to make their own “Tippee” that can be put up at the taps around the school

A “Tippee” is an easy-to-make and handy soap dispenser that may be placed at all taps so that there is always soap available to wash hands You will need the following:

Empty 2l plastic milk bottle (or other plastic bottle with a handle and lid/cap) Liquid soap e.g. sunlight, teepol that can be slightly diluted Some string Nail

Method: Rinse out the bottle properly. Make a hole in the middle of the cap using the nail. Fill up the bottle with the slightly diluted liquid soap. Tie the string to the handle and then to a hook near the tap. The bottle needs to be tipped slightly to release the soap when needed

ACTIVITY 2: MAPS

1. Identify areas where there has been an outbreak of cholera, typhoid and other water borne diseases in the following locations:  Your community  The town/city you line in  The province to which you belong  Throughout South Africa

2. Plot these areas onto a map

ACTIVITY 3: MATCHING

Fill in Column A with the terms form the block below to match the explanations in column B:

Column A Column B is a water-borne disease caused by a germ/bacteria called Vibrio cholerae. as well as vomiting are symptoms of

occurs as a result of a runny tummy and vomiting due to a loss of body fluid. By following these we can help prevent the spread of water borne diseases. Make sure you always wash your hands. may be used to make sure the water is clean and safe. Add 1 teaspoon to 25l of untreated water. Is caused by a group of parasitic worms called shistosomiases Is made up of 8teaspoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt mixed into 1litre of cooled boiled water and used to treat dehydration Is the bacterium that causes Gastroenteritis as well as bladder and kidney infections Diseases that are spread by contaminated water to humans It is important to protect your food from them as they could carry harmful bacteria or germs that cause diseases

Water borne diseases Cholera Diarrhoea Dehydration Hygiene practices Jik/bleach Bilharzia Water Retention Mixture E.coli Flies

ACTIVITY 4: HEALTH AND HYGIENE EDUCATION DRIVE Ask the learners to observe other learners during the school break or people within their community to determine if they practice good hygiene at school and at home. a. Report back on their observations. b. If good hygiene is not being practiced, they could go on and Health and Hygiene Education Drive at school/for the community. This could be done by: i. Getting representatives from the local clinic or health official to address the school/community ii. Putting up posters around the school or in public places like clinics, libraries, shops, places of worship. The examples below could be used as a guide to designing you posters.

TOPIC: SANITATION, HEALTH AND HYGIENE

ACTIVITY 1: INVESTIGATION

Lets be Sanitation Detectives:

In groups investigate the following: a. The type of sanitation facilities at home, school and the rest of the community (water borne or pit latrines) b. The condition of these facilities at various locations (at home, school and public places in the community). Are they well taken care of or not? c. Impact of Science and Technology on peoples lives with regard to the development insanitation facilities

TOPIC: WATER POLLUION

ACTIVITY 1: INVESTIGATION/RESEARCH

1. Get learners to research the causes and effects of water pollution internationally, nationally and locally. 2. Suggest recommendations to solve the problems caused by pollution

ACTIVITY 2: POSTERS

1. Using the information found in Activity 1, learners should then design posters using the following pollutions categories as topics: a. Domestic b. Industrial c. Recreational d. Agricultural

2. These posters should then be presented to the rest of the class.

3. Put up a display at the school library/community library informing the community of the causes and effects of pollution as well as ways of preventing pollution on our community.

ACTIVITY 3: ACTION PROJECTS

1. Check the pollution level by observing the aquatic life that is present. This can be done by using the Mini SASS (available from Umgeni Water). Once you have scored the river/stream, using the Mini SASS, decideon actions you are going to take to clean up the river or stream and put them into practice. For example:

i. Organise a river-clean-up. This may be done in conjunction with other schools in the area.

ii. Adopt a portion of the local stream/river and ensure that it is always clean and pollution free.

ACTIVITY 4: ALGAE AND WATER POLLUTION

One often sees small dams or pools in a river that look green. This is because the water contains thousands of tiny plants called algae. If this algae is given food it will; grow and soon cover a larger surface of water.

How will this affect the animal life in the water?

You can conduct the following experiment to help you answer this question.

You will need:

 Two plastic 2 litre cooldrink bottles  Scissors  1 teaspoon dish washing liquid  1 teaspoon plant fertilizer  Some green algae (you can make your own by placing plants in a glass vase. After a few days algae will grow on the sides of the vase.

Conduct the experiment as follows:

 Cut the top off both the bottles

 Divide the algae water between the two plastic bottles abd place them next to each other on asunny window sill.

 Add one teaspoon of dishwashing liquid to the one container and to the other a little of the plant fertilizer.

 Observe both containers. . What happens to the algae in each? . How does the washing liquid or fertilizer get into our rivers?

ACTIVITY 5: LANGUAGES

1. Write a poem/short story about pollution

2. Design a cartoon strip using Pollution as your issue of focus.