Lesson 3: The Water Cycle
Duration of Days: 6
Lesson Objective
To model the continuous movement of water through the biosphere and analyze the environmental impact of individual water footprints
What roles do biological processes like transpiration and respiration play in the hydrologic cycle?
How does a virtual water footprint differ from direct water usage?
Is the water you drink today the same water a dinosaur drank? How does water filter itself as it moves through the Earth?
HS-ESS2-5 (Properties of water and Earth’s surface processes).
Sequencing complex processes; analyzing cause-and-effect relationships.
Students move from a simple circle model of the water cycle to a complex systems model that includes biological (transpiration) and geological (percolation) components.
(DOK 4)
See "Materials / Resources / Text / Speakers" field
The Life of a Drop Comic Strip. Students create a 6-panel comic that tracks a water molecule through at least two different aquatic biomes. Mastery is shown by correctly illustrating the transition between phases (e.g., using a drawing to show the difference between infiltration and percolation).