The Water Cycle Project Based Learning Rubric and Activities

Project based learning is an important part of any classroom. In this unit, students will follow the rubric to research different aspects of the Water cycle. Each student will create a cartoon or story with pictures, sequencing the events of the water cycle. Then students will break into groups to investigate, specialize and teach others about different topics that relate to the water cycle (states of matter, temperatures in which water changes from a solid to a liquid and a liquid to a gas, evaporation, formation of clouds, formation of fog, and precipitation). Since facts are important, each group must follow the steps to learn about and teach their topic of expertize, but may choose any reasonable way to present their topic. Students groups will choose a topic to research. Students will create a driving question that will help them give true meaning to their project. Throughout the project, students should be asking and answering questions related to their topic and the standards. Students will follow steps of project based instruction and their rubrics as they research and present the research to the class. I am spending about 2 weeks on this project—two days for the comic strip, and three days to research and one to two days to put together and present projects. Included in this packet are GPS standards, a project rubric, project based instruction steps, and driving question sheet. Enjoy!