Students at Isabella Dickens Elementary School took a close look at how we use, consume and distribute water in the world. On a blustery spring day, students from Mr. Fortin’s class split up into multiple groups to participate in the “Water Footprints across the World” activity in the school field.
The students looked at two different water realities in the world. There were two stations set up for groups to explore. The groups visited both stations and worked to fill their communities’ water needs. They then needed to thoughtfully decide how to distribute their water to meet their populations water needs by filling small cups representing agriculture, industry and human needs. This became challenging for the groups that had water scarcity issues – there was only so much water given to the group to represent drought in their community. The other station had a good water supply but they needed to collect their water from a far distance using one small cup at a time per trip
This activity allowed the students to understand that water is a very important renewable resource and that every region around the world has a different water story. We discussed how water is not always easily accessible around the world and that some people have to travel far distances to collect their water supply. Students examined why some countries consume way more water than others and observed that even though water is renewable, communities still have to manage it carefully. To debrief the lesson, students took time to brainstorm ways to conserve water and how we can impact our water in positive ways.
