Case Study : Linking Water Cycle to Water Conservation

Some key areas of interest : Practical Class for biology,Conducting quiz in science
Why i joined Teachers’ circle : Meeting and Discussing with other teachers have helped me a lot. I could learn a lot about students. It was easy to analyze my student’s knowledge because of the Teachers’ Circle. Teaching aids are very useful to teach in the class. I need more ideas and resources for the coming academic year.

Experience Sharing

Purpose: Understand the link between water conservation and water cycle
Grade: 3

Summary :

Collected different Videos on different forms of water(boiling, melting of ice etc.), water cycle.Did activities to link water conservation and water cycle.
Students collected descriptions about dams. Used worksheet to identify different steps in water cycle and connect them appropriately pictures for coloring (activity to motivate children), and drawing activity
represent water cycle through an illustration.

Background discussions in the classroom:

The class on water cycle was conducted using videos that depicted evaporation, condensation and precipitation. When children found it difficult to understand some of the terms such as evaporation, condensation etc., real life examples of water boiling, water droplets seen under the lids of vessels, melting of ice was shown to the students. Through all this, children developed a fair understanding of how does rain fall occur, what is water cycle and the processes involved in water cycle.There was a discussion in the classroom regarding where the water goes after the rains and how it reaches the ocean. Through the dialogue, children understood that if all water reaches the ocean it would become salty and unfit for drinking, so we should conserve water. The discussion that followed was on how rainwater can be conserved. By constructing dams, lakes, well etc., we can conserve water. With help of dams, water in the rivers and lakes can be conserved and used for other purposes. It was also discussed with students that in Pondicherry there are no big dams but we have big lakes in ouster and bahour and small ponds in our villages and they need to be safeguarded to conserve water.A project was done on dams. The idea was to collect pictures and information about dams which are located in Tamil Nadu. Children used multiple sources such as newspapers, books and internet to gather information. 

Initiatives in classroom: Album on dams in Tamil Nadu
Children were asked to create an album on dams situated in Tamil Nadu. The album consisted of pictures of dams and a short description on each dam.

 What did children bring: 

Four days were given to the children to finish the work. Students collected photographs and some information about dams and presented it as an album and explained how they collected the information.

Discussions in the classroom after children brought the album :

They enjoyed preparing the album and they presented some basic information about the dams- its name, location, when was it built, height and depth of the structure etc. While presenting, students had doubts regarding the height, depth and structure of the dam, how it was con structed, how many people were involved in the process and how long it took to complete the entire construction, how it is maintained, who takes care of the dam  etc. It was interesting to listen to these doubts and many of these were clarified to them.Here we also talked about water conservation and how it is related to water cycle. We discussed how rain fall occurs and how small streams join together to form rivers, and how dams are constructed in places to store water for irrigation and power generation.

Assessment of learning:

To assess the understanding on water cycle I used a worksheet where they had to match the forms of water and water cycle terms with pictures.

What do I think about the way I taught?
Discussion from specific to a broader area; Could have asked questions about different means of conserving water and then arrived at dams as one of the ways to conserve water. I felt satisfied the way I taught but I would like to improve a few things. For example, rather than showing videos, if the children were shown a model on water cycle it would have been a better way to involve the children. After the model is shown students can be asked to write what they have observed in their own words.

What will I do better next time differently?
I want to prepare a working model for water cycle. Compared to a video, it is another way of teaching the same lesson.