Water Pollution Theme: High School Experiential Learning Bundle

Are you looking for engaging, fun, and effective ways of teaching your high school students about water pollution? Classroom experiential learning is a great way to introduce and hammer home high school water pollution concepts, and this bundle saves you a ton of time in having to develop your own resources and lesson plans. Simply print (or assign digitally) and let your students lead the way.

Experiential learning is student-directed, and that allows for students to direct the learning experience through a series of choices. Included in this high school water pollution bundle are project-based learning, problem-based learning, community action project, and scientific experimental inquiry activities around the theme of water pollution.

This bundle covers water pollution topics from an inquiry-based, problems and solutions approach using a combination of these student-directed learning activities:

• The chemistry of pollutants and how they change the chemistry of the water
• The sources of water pollution and the impacts of water pollution on aquatic ecosystems
• Water pollution in the context of real-world impact
• Solutions to the problem of water pollution that takes a variety of perspectives into consideration.

All of the content knowledge gained from these activities falls under the "Earth and Human Activity" NGSS. What's more is that the skills utilized and developed in these activities are in the NGSS as well, such as problem-solving solutions (PrBL), using technology to demonstrate learning (PBL), and gathering evidence to support an explanation (scientific inquiry), among others.

Resources included in the bundle:

***The activities are best implemented in the order shown here***

1) Sources of Water Pollution open inquiry activity:

Student-directed open inquiry is when students make observations, ask their own question, and investigate the question through experimentation (in this case). Students ask questions about water pollutants and their sources, and test their question using freshwater samples from the watersheds in the community. This product includes:

• Teacher guide
• Brainstorming activity
• Investigation planner
• Reflection

2) Impacts of Water Pollution on Aquatic Life open inquiry activity:

This student-directed open inquiry activity is also scientific inquiry where students will make observations about water pollution and the impact it can have on aquatic ecosystems. Students will ask questions about how certain pollutants will affect an aquatic organism like Elodea, design an experiment to test their question, and conduct the experiment. This resource includes:

• Teacher guide
• Brainstorming activity
• Investigation planner guide/organizer
• Reflection guide

3) Water Pollution from Fertilizers problem-based learning activity:

Students will take on the issue of water pollution caused by agricultural and lawn fertilizers. Students will deeply investigate the problem using a variety of sources, including collaboration with the community. Students could interview experts, locate relevant literature such as journal articles, shadow a farmer, watch a webinar on the latest technologies, conduct their own experiments to test viable solutions, etc. They will then propose a comprehensive solution plan to the class. This resource includes:

• Teacher guide
• Problem description
• Research planner
• Concept maps/organizers
• Presentation/proposal checklist
• Reflection
• Rubric

4) Community Action Project (project-based learning):

This student-directed project-based learning resource is meant as a wrap-up to this unit on water pollution. Students will take all of their skills and knowledge gained from the previous activity to plan their community action projects. Students will study one specific topic under the theme of water pollution of their choosing (such as ocean plastics, bioaccumulation and human consumption of fish, acidification, etc.) They will then plan a course of action to make change and act on it. Problem-based learning is all in theory. This project requires that students actively make change. For example, a student decides to focus on ocean plastics. They plan to start a pledge program for citizens to refuse single-use straws. Students create a website and related social media pages for those that pledge as a place to document their progress and hold each other accountable. Students also decide to meet with local legislators to pass an ordinance that requires local restaurants to use straws that are recyclable or compostable. Students use project-based learning principles throughout the course of this project. This resource includes:

• Teacher guide
• Project topic brainstorming activities
• Brainstorming activity supplemental materials
• Two project proposal templates (1 - research the issue, 2- take action)
• Exploring solutions brainstorming guide
• Rubric 1: teacher-created rubric for project part 1 - researching the issue
• Rubric 2: student-generated rubric template for project part 2 - taking action
• Category and levels of mastery word banks for student-generated rubrics
• Daily check-in form
• Project reflection guide sheet

Relevant Resources

• The Science of Climate Change Course from an Experiential Learning Approach
• Problem-Centered Curriculum: Invasive Species
• Student-Directed Learning Toolkit Bundle

Helpful FREE resources from ELD

• Free Experiential Learning Activity Tools Mini-Bundle - This free mini-bundle includes an implementation spreadsheet with pages for each experiential learning activity included in this water pollution bundle.

Helpful and Relevant Blog Posts from ELD

• Getting Started with Inquiry-Based Learning
• How to Facilitate Community Action Projects

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