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Lesson and Curriculum
 Lesson
at a Glance:
Curriculum: Watershed to Bay: A Raindrop Journey
University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension System
Grade: 4-8
Topic: Groundwater
Barbara worked with Robin’s fifth graders on groundwater. She started
by having the students work in pairs to draw what they thought
a groundwater table looked like. Barbara notes that children and adults
alike are full
of misconceptions about groundwater. “Almost all the drawings I
get have the same misconception, and that is that water is in
some kind of river or pool or lake underground,” Barbara commented.
She also asked the students to think of and write down any questions that
occurred
to them as they worked on their drawings. “That’s essential
for them: this is a question that I have that I hope is going
to be answered.”
When they were done briefly discussing their drawings
and questions, Barbara introduced a material she feels is analogous
to the rock in groundwater — a
sponge that was saturated with water. The students were then
ready to work with their groundwater models. In groups of four
or five, the class
used plastic tanks that had an uneven layer of gravel on the
bottom. When the students poured water into the model, they had
a clear example of
the water table: the bottom of the tank represents the aquifer,
the gravel that is saturated in water represents the groundwater,
and the dry gravel
serves as the water table.
After working with the model and a
little more discussion, the students, again in pairs, drew a
picture of a groundwater table
and wrote down some questions about it. “Well, I had a very good
class of students that did a lot of thinking,” Barbara said after
the lesson. She was slightly disappointed in the children’s second
drawings — “they
seemed to understand saturation, but their drawings didn’t reflect
it” — but she considered the lesson an overall success. “I
asked them to come up with questions when they started and more
questions when they were finished. Those end questions were much more
sophisticated,
like a boy who said, ‘What is a pond like on top of the mountain?
It couldn’t be connected, it’s too high up. Would it be connected
to the water table the way it was in our model?’ That question shows
me that he understands the concept, because he couldn’t have asked
that question if he didn’t. So soliciting questions can be more
important than giving answers. ”
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