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Treat it Right® Storm Water

Middle, Secondary

Description

This teaching unit consists of four lessons that address issues connected to urban storm water management including water quality, water-borne materials, erosion and deposition, stream characteristics, continental drainage systems and human impacts.

Lesson One: Storm Water

  • Students conduct calculations to manipulate data on impermeable land and determine the % of impermeable land on their property.
  • Conduct research on local flooding.
  • Build a water management model.
  • Answer comprehension questions based on readings.
  • Graph precipitation records.
  • Investigate and analyze evidence of storm water management in their neighbourhood and read about Edmonton's storm water management system.

Lesson Two: Water Quality Investigations

  • Students collect and analyze storm water.
  • Create and analyze a deposition simulation

Lesson Three: Human Impact on the Storm Water System

  • Students research the ingredients of products that get washed into the storm water management system.
  • Debate treatment of Storm Water over non-treatment.

Lesson Four: Careers in Storm Water Management

  • Students write a resume based on a Storm Water Management Job that interests them.

Note* While this unit was written with students in Edmonton, Alberta in mind, it can be adapted for use by teachers working in other large, urban centres.

General Assessment

What skills does this resource explicitly teach?

  • How to calculate the quantity of water carried by a pipe.
  • How to use a PH scale.
  • How to quantify and graph to analyze water quality.

Strengths

  • The resource provides teachers a blueprint for teaching about Edmonton's storm water management. It opens the doors for questions and connections about water.
  • The student resource provides teachers with a ready to use package of science, math and reading activities for students.
  • The resource encourages experiential learning.

Weaknesses

  • Edmonton's drinking water source is not stated but is directly connected to the issues presented.
  • The flora, fauna, Aboriginal people, and original wetlands of the land on which Edmonton is build deserves mention in this unit to provide historical context. What has been lost? What has been preserved and created? What do we need to do to create our sustainable future?
  • The teacher's guide does not provide background information or links to background information on the Edmonton storm water management system.
  • The teacher's guide doesn't provide time frames, materials lists, or pedagogy for the teacher led portions of the lessons.

Recommendation of how and where to use it

  • Ensure students have a thorough understanding of the water cycle, their watershed, and their drinking water source prior to using this resource.

Relevant Curriculum Units

The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.

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        • Physical and Health Education: Advocating for the health and well-being of others connects us to our community
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        • Physical and Health Education: Advocating for the health and well-being of others connects us to our community

Themes Addressed

Waste Management (1)

  • Liquid Waste

Water (2)

  • Water Treatment and Distribution
  • Watershed Protection

Sustainability Education Principles

Principle Rating Explanation
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives Good
  • The bias is humanist and in this case, supports the ESD perspective.
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
  • Satisfactory: absence of bias towards any one point of view
  • Good: students consider different points of view regarding issues, problems discussed
  • Very good: based on the consideration of different views, students form opinions and  take an informed position
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions Good
  • The focus is on social and technical dimensions of the issues. Economic dimensions play a lesser role.
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions:

Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.

  • Satisfactory: resource supports the examination of  these dimensions
  • Good:  resource explicitly examines the interplay of these dimensions
  • Very Good:  a systems-thinking approach is encouraged to examine these three dimensions
Respects Complexity Good
  • Solutions for lessening large impermeable surfaces are not explored.
  • Effects of large impermeable surfaces and urban storm water management on local flora and fauna are not explored.
  • Costs associated with storm water management are not explored.
Respects Complexity:

The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected.

Acting on Learning Satisfactory
  • Students research to share findings, and design posters or jingles to share with classmates.
Acting on Learning:

Learning moves from understanding  issues  to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community,  or for the planet

  • Satisfactory: action opportunities are included as extensions 
  • Good: action opportunities are core components of the resource
  • Very Good: action opportunities for students are well supported and intended to result in observable, positive change
Values Education Satisfactory
  • Students are asked to define, to answer, to research, and to debate. The lessons do not include formal time for reflect on personal values and beliefs or on learning.
Values Education:

Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.

Empathy & Respect for Humans Poor/Not considered
  • This is not an aspect of the resource.
Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.).
Personal Affinity with Earth Very Good
  • Students are taken out of doors to document evidence of storm water management and to catalogue the flora and fauna present.
Personal Affinity with Earth:

Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.  

  • Satisfactory: connection is made to the natural world
  • Good: fosters appreciation/concern for the natural world
  • Very Good: fosters stewardship though practical and respectful experiences out-of-doors 
Locally-Focused Learning Very Good
  • The resource is developed in Edmonton for students to learn about their city storm water management systems.
  • A similar local focus can be established using this resource in other jurisdictions.
Locally-Focused Learning:

Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community. 

  • Satisfactory: learning is made relevant to the lives of the learners
  • Good: learning is made relevant and has a local focus
  • Very Good: learning is made relevant, local and takes place ‘outside’ , in the community 
Past, Present & Future Satisfactory
  • While the unit is present focused, a debate regarding the future and career exploration does take place.
Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.

Pedagogical Approaches

Principle Rating Explanation
Open-Ended Instruction Good

A combination of structured inquiry and guided investigation takes place. Students are active participants in learning about their city's storm water management plan.

Open-Ended Instruction :

Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer.

Integrated Learning Very Good
  • The unit is multidisciplinary and includes math, science, aspects of language arts, social studies, and career exploration.
Integrated Learning:

Learning brings together content and skills  from more than one  subject area

  • Satisfactory: content from a number of different  subject areas is readily identifiable
  • Good:  resource is appropriate for use in more than one subject area
  • Very Good:  the lines between subjects are blurred 
Inquiry Learning Good
Inquiry Learning:

Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.   

  • Satisfactory: Students are provided with questions/problems to solve and some direction on how to arrive at solutions.
  • Good: students, assisted by the teacher clarify the question(s) to ask and the process to follow to arrive at solutions.  Sometimes referred to as Guided Inquiry
  • Very Good:  students generate the questions and assume much of the responsibility for how to solve them.  . Sometimes referred to as self-directed learning.

 

Differentiated Instruction Good
  • A wide range of experiences are provided for students.
  • The student resource requires solid reading, comprehension and mathematical skill and there are no suggested accommodations for students with learning difficulties.
Differentiated Instruction:

Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.

  • Satisfactory:  includes a variety of instructional approaches
  • Good: addresses  the needs of visual, auditory &  kinesthetic learners
  • Very Good: also includes strategies for learners with difficulties
Experiential Learning Very Good
Experiential Learning:

Authentic learning experiences are provided

  • Satisfactory: learning takes place through ‘hands-on’ experience or simulation
  • Good: learning involves direct experience in a ‘real world context’
  • Very good: learning involves ‘real world experiences’ taking place’ beyond the school walls.
Cooperative Learning Satisfactory
Cooperative Learning:

Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.

  • Satisfactory:  students work in groups
  • Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught and practiced
  • Very Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught, practiced and assessed
Assessment & Evaluation Good
  • The student resource guide is substantive and includes many question/answer type activities. 
  • Rubrics for the research assignments are not provided.
Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc.
Peer Teaching Satisfactory
Peer Teaching:

Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.

  • Satisfactory: incidental teaching that arises from cooperative learning, presentations, etc.
  • Good or Very Good: an opportunity is intentionally created to empower students to teach other students/community members. The audience is somehow reliant on the students' teaching (students are not simply ‘presenting')
Case Studies Satisfactory
  • The case studies are often fictional and unreferenced.
Case Studies:

Relevant case studies are included.  Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore  concepts in an authentic context.

Locus of Control Satisfactory
  • Students can choose what they will research within a category of research.
Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue.