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What's
the Cost of Not Conserving?
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Using
the SWISH Slide Show
Background:
The
S.W.I.S.H. Slide Show takes students
on a case with Miss Con Serve, a student detective, to the local
town hotel. The hotel is seeing a monthly increase in its water
use even though the number of guests is not increasing. The mystery
then is, "Where is all the water going?" As new SWISH
team members, students are led through some basic water wasting
areas so they can become more knowledgeable about things to look
at when evaluating water use at home, school, or in a business.
Materials:
Print out the S.W.I.S.H. Slide guide
for students to use while going through the 12 slides.
(This is a PDF file. See link at the bottom of
page to download Acrobat Reader if needed.)
Print out the S.W.I.S.H. Report Sheet
to use at the end of the slide show. (This
is a PDF file. See link at the bottom of page to download Acrobat
Reader if needed.) An online version
is also available. This is an open-ended form which you can use
to direct students to complete in as much detail as you feel appropriate
for your group.
Print out S.W.I.S.H. badges,
membership
cards and pledge
cards.
(These
are PDF file. See link at the bottom of page to download Acrobat
Reader if needed.)
Procedures:
Have students view the slide show individually, in pairs, or small
groups depending on your situation. Be sure each student has
their own guide sheet to complete.
Have students discuss their ideas about the water problems encountered
as they traveled through various water use areas in the hotel.
Have
students brainstorm ways that the amounts of water used could
be cut back or conserved in their home and school based on what
they learned through the slideshow.
Provide
students time to research more information (link to more
information provided at the end of the slide show) and to
write up their reports. Especially valuable might be references
to water saving fixtures/devices. Have students check to see if
they have these in their own home/school.
| Discuss
the water restrictions in your area and/or the need to conserve
our water supply. You might wish to have students use the
links and activities in the Student section on this site to
research more information. Students may not realize that the
water that is on Earth today is the same water that was here
when dinosaurs roamed and yet the population and uses for
water is increasing. |
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Issue
students S.W.I.S.H. badges, membership cards and pledge cards
so they can become S.W.I.S.H. Team members. Links for these PDF
files are on the printables
page (or see Materials above).
Have
students conduct a S.W.I.S.H. water audit of their own in the
school or at a local business. Go through the same steps or
areas as the S.W.I.S.H. Team did in the slideshow, modifying
procedures as needed depending on the site selected. Their S.W.I.S.H.
reports should be a guide to them as they decide what to look
for and how to make constructive suggestions to those in charge
when they are done.
Use
the results of your audit
to plan your group's presentation or action campaign to make
others aware of water conservation issues and ways to save
water!
Assessment:
Can
students provide an answer to the question - What is the cost
of not conserving water? Answers should include monetary factors,
environmental items, restrictions, and shortages of fresh water
along with others they discover.
Develop
a rubric for their S.W.I.S.H. Report which covers the content
obtained from the slideshow and information offered on ways to
conserve. The latter may be based on additional research done
utilizing online resources and books or other materials.
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