IO Project

A study of the water creates connections in a web of relationship of all life. What we do to water, we do to ourselves.

There are many different user groups drawing from the same water resources as the town of Cayley. Each different group has an impact on the ecosystem. Our inquiry "Water We Doing In Cayley?" offers the possibility of looking carefully through historical, cultural, global, religious, industrial, recreational, and artistic lenses. It realizes the essential need of water for survival, as well as honoring the natural world and the intrinsic value of water.

Often we take for granted the abundance, availabilty, and cleanliness of our water. Where is our water coming from and where does it go when it leaves? What are the implications of our water usage in Cayley and surrounding area and how does this impact others? As students begin to uncover current and possible water issues both global and within the surrounding area of the hamlet of Cayley, they will come to develop a sense of stewardship.

The earth and our own bodies are mostly water. We rely on a source for our very physical survival. Such a dependant relationship has informed many settlement choices through history and has influenced political and industrial decisions. Water also nourishes our individual and cultural imagination and soul.

UNESCO identified the 2003-2013 as the International Decade Of Water, with water issues becoming critical in many reaches of the world. The Alberta Government has also taken the issue of fresh water very seriously, with research to inform strategies and laws initiated. The Bow River, within our watershed, has recently been given the status of "endangered".

What are the viewpoints of the different stakeholders? When the children have access to the ideas, values and concerns of these groups, they will have a stronger voice to speak and act on behalf of our watershed and the waters of the world.

This cross curricular inquiry study includes Grade 8 science, social studies and language arts.

Curriculum

Science

Focusing Questions: How do water, land and climate interact? What are the characteristics offreshwater and saltwater systems, and how do they affect living things, including humans?

1. Describe the distribution and characteristics of water in local and global environments, and identifythe significance of water supply and quality to the needs of humans and other living things.
2. Investigate and interpret linkages among landforms, water and climate.
3. Identify evidence of glacial action, and analyze factors affecting the growth and attrition ofglaciers and polar icecaps
4. Analyze relationships between water quality and living things, and infer the quality of waterbased on the diversity of life supported by it
5. Analyze human impacts on aquatic systems; and identify the roles of science and technology inaddressing related questions, problems and issues? analyze human water uses, and identify the nature and scope of impacts resulting from differentuses (e.g., identify pollutants in ground water and surface water systems resulting from domesticand industrial use; analyze the effects of agriculture and forestry practices on stream flow andwater quality)
6. Identify current practices and technologies that affect water quality, evaluate environmental costsand benefits, and identify and evaluate alternatives (e.g., research and analyze alternatives forensuring safe supplies of potable water; research, analyze and debate alternatives for a specificwater quality issue, such as the location and design of a landfill, the protection of a naturalwaterway, the use of secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment, the salinization of soils due toirrigation, the eutrophication of ponds and streams due to excess use of phosphates in fertilizersand detergents, or a proposal to export water resources)
7. Provide examples of problems that cannot be solved using scientific and technologicalknowledge alone (e.g., the need to prevent pollutants from entering aquatic environments, theneed to avoid damage from ice sheets and icebergs)

Curriculum

Language Arts

1. Develop and extend own ideas, opinions and experiences
2. Revise understanding and expression of ideas by connecting new and prior knowledge and experiences
3. Review, reread and reflect on oral, print and other media texts to explore, confirm or revise understanding
4. Discuss and respond to ways that forms of oral, print and other media

COOPERATE WITH OTHERS
- propose ideas or advocate points of view that recognize the ideas of others and advance the thinking of the group
- use opportunities as a group member to contribute to groupg oals and extend own learning

WORK IN GROUPS
- contribute ideas, knowledge and strategies to identify group information needs and sources
- organize and complete tasks cooperatively by defining roles andresponsibilities, negotiating to find the basis for agreement, setting objectives and time frame, and reviewing progress

EVALUATEGROUP PROCESS
- evaluate the quality of own contributions to group process, and offer constructive feedback to others; propose suggestions for improvement

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect, support and collaborate with others.

Curriculum

Social Studies

Topic A: Geography of Canada and the United States

Environmental interaction
- adaptation
- resource development
· consequences
- environmental limitations
- environmental emergencies

The environment is constantly being changed by human and physical forces.
- human factors
· settlement patterns, occupations, recreation
· beliefs/ideas

The Community Water Symposium task and activities are opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of What we do to water, we do to ourselves.

Task

Community Water Symposium

The Grade 8 students will research water issues that affect the community of Cayley and the world. This research will culminate in recommendations that will be presented to the general public and special interest groups at a community water symposium.

Special interest groups, such as Alberta Environment and Trouts Unlimited, and local businesses will be invited to a display forum.

Other classes in our K-8 school will also display their own water study inquiries at the display forum.

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Activity

How much water do we use?*

Students and their families will tally the ways and the amount of water that they use in a week using the chart from:

With the results, create a bar graph that shows the way water is used and the litres used by our class.

Research common ways to reduce water consumption using the internet resources on our inquiry page.

Publish the results in the school newsletter with recommendations for water use reduction.

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Activity

Water use model

From the graphing activity, tally how much water is used on average by a family in Cayley.

Create a visual model using plastic gallon milk jugs to show how much water an average Cayley family uses in a week.

Create a similar model with the data from the UNESCO site to show how much water an average third world country family uses in a week.

Display both models in the school front foyar.

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Activity

The weight of water issues

For one day, the Grade 8s will not have free access to clean water. When water is required, you willo need to travel across the field and carry buckets of water back to the class. Not all of the water will be consumable. Some water will be dyed with food coloring to indicate that the water is ?contaminated?. For the afternoon, only girls will fetch the water, while the boys will remain in their classrooms, still receiving their lessons. This is to simulate the reality of many children, especially girls, in developing countries.

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Activity

World Water Day*

The Grade 8 students will organize and MC our school celebration for the international UNESCO World Water Day.

You will need to select a short and compelling video from our resources to highlight the ways in which we depend on water.

In pairs, prepare a brief summary of one way that water consumption can be reduced by an average family and present your suggestion during the assembly.

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Activity

Novel Study *
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Activity

Lighting the fire* Movie Controversial movie (?) showing local hero Introduction of personal reflection journal.
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Activity

What's the water news?

For two weeks we will be spending time in class looking at local and regional papers to learn about local, regional and international water issues.

When you read the article, take note of the issue, it's location and look for a bias in reporting. We will take up some of these issues each day in class.

We will create a bulletin board in the main hallway with these articles.

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Activity

Getting the facts*

It is important to research your issue by getting a variety of information from various sources and from different points of view.

You will use the internet, text, multimedia, personal interviews and connections with experts to gather your information and to prepare your report and resulting recommendations. Your report will provide the background information that you need to be able to prepare your presentation at the symposium.

You will be expected to cite your material according to the APA format.

The issues we have choosen as a class to research are:

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Activity

What are the issues? Who are the experts? Who cares?*

We will have a number of guest speakers come to the class and we will also be contacting experts by phone and through email.

The speakers selected will be from a variety of interest groups in order for us to come to a bias balanced understanding of water issues.

Keep track of the presentation in your journal. Use the same format we used when we took up newspaper articles to record the information and your impressions.

The speak list of those who will come to our class include:

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Activity

Is everything true? How do we know if the information we collect is accurate? How can we effectively search for research on the internet? We will have an expert give us a workshop on internet research skills.
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Activity

Local Water Quality Assessment We will assess and test water quality at three local water sources. You will use provicial water quality assessment protocols and materials used by experts. We will submit our data to the Alberta Government Water Quality data base.
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Activity

Floating the Bow. We will go on a floating Bow River field trip. We will collect and analyize water quality samples along the way and conduct overall ecosystem assessments. Data will be submitted to the Alberta Government Water Data Base.
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Activity

Presentation savy You will have a presentation from locall 4H public speaking coaches on preparing and delivering your presentation with workshop time after to practice the skills.
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Activity

Presentation props A good presentation with a compelling arguement is not just about the speech. Using props can make a good presentation into a strong and memorable one. You can choose the best way to support your presentation. You may create models, posters, artwork, skits, and PowerPoint presentations to support the information shared.
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Activity

Getting the word out* What are the ways we can get the word out about our symposium. In Mr. class we will contact the media in the area by phone and write a press release. ?????????
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Activity

Symposium design Working with your teachers, we will design the symposium template, organize the timetable and prepare a map for the display booths. We will also create signs for our presentations.
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Activity

Taking it home What can your symposium participants take away with them to help them recall the key points of your presentation and to access further information?. Choose the best way to get your message across. You can choose to create brochures or one pagers using graphs, information summaries and futher information resources.
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Activity

Sink or swim. You are cordially invited to don your bathing suits for a celebration pool party after the symposium! We will recreate in our beloved H20!
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Activity

After it all. After the symposium, students, teachers and community members will be involved in evaluating the symposium and its effectiveness for the community at large and for your own learning.
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Task 1: Water We Doing - Cayley's Water Symposium

	1	2	3	4
Research - Content	Information is inaccurate or contains significant gaps Information comes from few sources	Information is accurate but not always complete Limited research scope	Information offers a comprehensive and accurate picture of the topic Adequate research scope	In-depth research calls on a wide variety of resources Content is fresh, original, insightful
Organization	May contain many facts, but they are not developed as ideas, themes or connections	Some interpretation of facts Connections with larger contexts are not always clear	Ideas, themes or patterns are developed Makes connections with larger contexts	Ideas and interpretations are insightful Connections with larger contexts are sophisticated creative and comprehensive.
Information Gathering	Student relied heavily on one source. The source (text and graphics) is documented but not in the desired format.	Student used a limited number of sources. Most sources (text and graphics) are documented but many are not in the desired format.	Student used a variety of sources. All sources (text and graphics) are accurately documented, but few are not in the desired format.	Student used an extensive variety of sources representing different perspectives. All sources (text and graphics) are accurately documented and in a recognized standard (such as APA) format.
Recommendations out of the study	Identifies no issues, questions or recommendations for further study.	Identifies limited but appropriate issues, questions or recommendations for further study.	Issues, questions or recommendations identified for further study are interesting and appropriate	Issues, questions or recommendations identified for further study are intriguing and worth serious consideration for follow-up
Oral Presentation Pacing, volume, clarity, expression, eye contact	Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear. Student reads all of report with no eye contact.	Student's voice is low. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation. Student occasionally uses eye contact, but still reads most of report.	Student's voice is clear. Most audience members can hear presentation. Student maintains eye contact most of the time but frequently returns to notes.	Student uses a clear voice so that all audience members can hear presentation. Student maintains eye contact with audience, seldom returning to notes.
Technology	No use of technology during the study to research or present.	Limited use of technology during the study to research or present.
Collaboration with others	Requires teacher intervention or frequent supervision to remain on task and engaged Interferes with the learning of others Does not build on, extend or challenge other?s ideas Is frequently unprepared for team meetings or working sessions Cannot clearly identify his or her contribution to the group effort	Inconsistent use of available collaborative environments May contribute by doing his or her own work, but seldom offers assistance to others in problem-solving situations. Does most of his or her work when the deadline is near, or when teacher supervision is required.	Uses a variety of collaborative environments to keep in touch with group members and to build knowledge. Remains engaged with others through the developing work rather than through teacher supervision. Is consistently helpful to others.	Depends on collaborative environments to push thinking and work forward. Offers leadership that builds group cohesion and effectiveness. Makes connections that build on and extend ideas.