In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water …
In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.
Students will test the percolation rates of 6 different soil samples. Three …
Students will test the percolation rates of 6 different soil samples. Three of the samples are measured sand and clay and three are collected from the schoolyard and wetland.
In this activity, students act as water molecules and travel through parts …
In this activity, students act as water molecules and travel through parts of the water cycle (ocean, atmosphere, clouds, glaciers, snow, rivers, lakes, ground, aquifer). Students use a diagram of the hydrologic cycle to draw the pathway they traveled.
In this activity students build a model of a watershed to learn …
In this activity students build a model of a watershed to learn where water goes when it rains. Students then make predictions and draw what they observe.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students use a …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students use a rating curve to determine discharge at various stage heights.
Students learn about physical models of groundwater and how environmental engineers determine …
Students learn about physical models of groundwater and how environmental engineers determine possible sites for drinking water wells. During the activity, students create their own groundwater well models using coffee cans and wire screening. They add red food coloring to their models to see how pollutants can migrate through the groundwater into a drinking water resource.
In this activity, students use models to investigate the process and consequences …
In this activity, students use models to investigate the process and consequences of water contamination on the land, groundwater, and plants. This is a good introduction to building water filters found in the associated activity, The Dirty Water Project.
In this exercise, students predict changes in the movement of a dissolved …
In this exercise, students predict changes in the movement of a dissolved plume in response to remedial pumping in an unconfined aquifer. The underlying conceptual model for the distribution of aquifer and aquitard materials is not known with certainty. Consequently, two alternative end-member conceptualizations are presented to students who are then asked to hypothesize differences in predicted responses at the pumping wells and nearby monitoring wells for each conceptual model. Predictions are compared to actual field data, and students discover that contaminant concentration measurements depend not only on the location of the observation point (in three dimensions), but also on the length of the screened interval through which water samples are collected. The activity is divided into three parts: (1) site/problem description, (2) formulation and testing of hypotheses for pumping wells, and (3) formulation and testing of hypotheses for monitoring wells. The activity gives students practice in three dimensional thinking and reinforces their intuitive understanding of contaminant plume migration in response to natural gradients and engineered stresses.
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The best way for students to understand how groundwater flows is to …
The best way for students to understand how groundwater flows is to actually see it. In this activity, students will learn the vocabulary associated with groundwater and see a demonstration of groundwater flow. Students will learn about the measurements that environmental engineers need when creating a groundwater model of a chemical plume.
Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation. Once a …
Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation. Once a dam is constructed, its reservoir becomes a part of the region's natural hydrologic cycle by receiving precipitation, storing runoff water and evaporating water. Although almost impossible to see, and not as familiar to most people as precipitation, evaporation plays a critical role in the hydrologic cycle, and is especially of interest to engineers designing new dams and reservoirs, such as those that Splash Engineering is designing for Thirsty County.
This short demonstration will open students' eyes to the distribution of various …
This short demonstration will open students' eyes to the distribution of various water sources on our Earth, but also the limited amount of fresh water for our daily use.
Students are provided with a 3D perspective of a virtual place, descriptions …
Students are provided with a 3D perspective of a virtual place, descriptions of geologic and cultural aspects, and a table with water-table elevations in groundwater and contaminant levels in water wells, springs, and rivers. Students use these data to contour water-table elevations, determine the direction of groundwater flow, and identify industrial sites that are likely sources of contamination. They then propose a remediation plan and identify water wells that are likely to remain uncontaminated in the future.
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Drinking water comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. …
Drinking water comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. Environmental engineers analyze the physical properties of groundwater to predict how and where surface contaminants will travel. In this lesson, students will learn about several possible scenarios of contamination to drinking water. They will analyze the movement of example contaminants through groundwater such as environmental engineers must do (i.e., engineers identify and analyze existing contamination of water sources in order to produce high quality drinking water for consumers).
Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential …
Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential benefits, which include water supply, electricity generation, flood control, recreation and irrigation. This lesson begins an ongoing classroom scenario in which student engineering teams working for the Splash Engineering firm design dams for a fictitious client, Thirsty County.
This exercise uses an analytical method (Grubb, 1993) and Excel to calculate …
This exercise uses an analytical method (Grubb, 1993) and Excel to calculate the capture zone shape for a TCE remediation well in Wooster, Ohio. The case study description given in an extensive PowerPoint presentation. The capture-zone equations are programmed by the student into an Excel worksheet and used to delineate the contributing area of a contaminant recovery well. Students can then experiment with by varying the pumping rate, hydraulic conductivity, and hydraulic gradient to better understand the sensitivity of these parameters on capture-zone shape.
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In this exercise, we use the USGS real-time data available online, and …
In this exercise, we use the USGS real-time data available online, and use it to construct a rating curve for the Walla Walla river near Touchet. We then make a simple model of flood inundation in ArcGIS for the area around our gaging station.
(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)
This Yellowstone National Park website contains thousands of photographs of the Park. …
This Yellowstone National Park website contains thousands of photographs of the Park. Images are organized by category including fire, thermal features, mammals, park structures, petrified trees, water, weather, scenics, and more. The photographs may be freely downloaded and more are being added through time.
Contamination in drinking water sources or watersheds can negatively affect the organisms …
Contamination in drinking water sources or watersheds can negatively affect the organisms that come in contact with it. The affects can be severe causing illness or, in some cases, even death. It is important for people to understand how they can contribute to the contaminants in drinking water and what treatment can be done to counter these harmful effects. Students will learn about the various methods developed by environmental engineers for treating drinking water in the United States.
Students perform a macroinvertebrate survey to gauge the health of a local …
Students perform a macroinvertebrate survey to gauge the health of a local river. They collect water samples and count macroinvertebrates to learn how the health of a river's ecosystem can be determined by its river insect population.
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