Lesson 1: Water Cycle Jeopardy
Email gg-info@lists.utah.edu if you would like the full lesson plan, activity, jeopardy game, and water cycle quiz.
Grade(s) - 6-8
Topic: Water Cycle
Brief Lesson Description:
This lesson will reinforce the 7 main components of the water cycle through an interactive game (water cycle jeopardy).
Learning Outcomes:
- Students should be able to identify the 7 main components of the water cycle.
- Students should have an appreciation of how only a fraction of water is available for human use.
- Students should have an appreciation of how human activity can impact the water cycle.
Background Information:
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Provide necessary background information about ideas or concepts that students need to know before beginning this lesson (e.g., students should know that CO2 is a major greenhouse gas, or students should understand the role that water plays in weathering and erosion, etc.). You may want to describe why these ideas are important.
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For HW the night before, students will watch an introductory video on the water cycle. There are many effective videos on Youtube.
Science & Engineering Practices:
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Developing and using models
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
- (PS1) Matter and its interactions
- (ESS2) Earth’s systems
- (ESS3) Earth and Human Activity
Crosscutting concepts:
- Energy and matter
- Systems and system models
- Scale, proportion, and quantity
Possible Preconceptions/Misconceptions:
The amount of water on the planet is declining due to climate change. This statement is false. Climate change impacts the water cycle (precipitation patterns, temperature, etc.), but does not impact the amount of water on earth
Lesson Plan
Students will participate in a water cycle Kahoot as a warm-up activity. You will need to create your own Kahoot, or find a pre-existing one. At the end of each question, teachers should go through and briefly explain correct answers to the entire class to clear up any misconceptions.
Explore
Jeopardy!! (with different rules from normal jeopardy)
Teachers will administer a jeopardy game for the class (template provided below). Students will be divided into teams of three to four. Teachers will determine a random order prior to starting the game.
At the start of each turn, each group will have the opportunity to pick the topmost unpicked square in any row. The teacher will then click on the link in the corresponding square, and this will prompt the students with a question. All groups will have 60-120 seconds to discuss answers to the question and come to a consensus before presenting their answers to the class (if there is access to handheld white boards, have students write their answers on them). All groups that present a correct answer will be awarded the amount of points shown in the square. Incorrect answers will not receive points. The teacher will keep tally of scores on the whiteboard (or in a Zoom chat if done virtually). The next group in the predetermined order will pick a new square to start the next turn.
Teachers should encourage their students to share their thought process when giving their answers, particularly on more difficult questions.
Once the game ends (7 minutes prior to the end of class or once all questions are answered), there will be a post assessment quiz that students will have 5 minutes to complete.
Explain
Concepts:
This lesson will cover the 7 main components of the water cycle.
Vocabulary:
- Evaporation: the change of water from a liquid state to a gas state due to an increase in temperature
- Condensation: the process by which water changes from a gas to a liquid state
- Precipitation: water that falls from clouds in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail
- Runoff: excess water, not absorbed by the soil, that flows downhill
- Infiltration: the flow of surface water into the subsurface (ground)
- Storage: water that is stored in a location for a long period of time and is not actively moving through the water cycle (ex: snowpack)
- Transpiration: the release of water vapor into the atmosphere by plant leaves
Elaborate
To get a sense of the distribution of water on earth, teachers can create a mini-lesson or homework assignment with information contained on the usgs website.
Evaluate
Formative Assessment:
Each question answered in Jeopardy will provide a check-in opportunity to assess how the lesson is going. Teachers will be able to elaborate on correct answers given by students, and they will also be able to clarify any concepts from incorrectly answered questions.
Summative Assessment:
In the last 5 minutes of class, students will receive a diagram that they will be asked to label with the components of the water cycle. This can be graded as a quiz. Students that paid attention during the class activity and the pre-assessment (the Kahoot) should have minimal trouble completing this activity.