Learning at home – river catchments and connections

Teaching remotely and learning from home? This collection has some simple ideas to keep students actively engaged in STEM activities.

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Many of the resources come from Rivers and Us - a context for learning. There are lots of resource links in this article, as well as pedagogical information.

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Big science ideas:

• The Earth has a limited amount of freshwater, and it is continuously recycled - the water cycle.
• River catchments are part of the water cycle.
• Natural features, like river catchments, can be changed by human actions.

The following article, and the interactive that sits within it, are goldmines of information!

Science content vocabulary

• Glossary: There are 25 glossary words in the Water catchments article. If you print the article, the glossary words, and their definitions, are listed on the final page. Check your printer settings. Some allow the article to be saved as a PDF, which can then be loaded to Google Drive or similar.
• Another option is with the activity Wai words. It has Māori classification of water and science content vocabulary associated with wai, water monitoring and water quality. The activity provides a variety of opportunities for students to learn the words and their meanings and the contexts in which they may encounter the terminology.
• Use some/all of the words and online apps to create a word find, crossword puzzle or word jumble - or ask students to create them and share them with the class.

The following activity uses https://www.topomap.co.nz/

In addition to the activity instructions, there are lots of questions you can use to deepen understanding.

It also has these extension ideas:

● Choose a local maunga/mountain. Observe the effects of elevation on the creation of stream headwaters. Mt Taranaki is a striking example.

● Choose a location that has an estuary system, such as Kaipara Harbour or Invercargill. Observe the interactions between the streams, rivers and wetlands.

● The South Island has a wide variety of water catchments – braided rivers, fiords, glaciers and glacier lakes. Observe the role of relief (contours, elevation, flat areas) on both the hydrographic and the cultural features of the Southern Alps.

● Consider how the various features create or influence water catchments.

● Local catchments and the streams and rivers in them can be very important to the people who live in them. Learn more in Te mana o te awa and Wai Māori.

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Learn about the history of your local catchment and how it has changed over the years. Create a timeline. Check out the History of the Waikato River timeline as an example.

The following activity: Mapping water at my school can be adapted to Mapping water in my neighbourhood.

Actively observe what happens to precipitation in the neighbourhood catchment – roofs, paths, driveways, roads, parking areas, parks/playgrounds and where you think it ends up.

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Identify the source of indoor water use in your house and its disposal.

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The student handout has word cards students can use to create a water cycle that includes the water at their home.

The following activity: Build a model water catchment is hands-on - it uses everyday materials to simulate water flows in a catchment.

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Encourage students to consider how they can get creative with clay, Lego buildings, small branches to represent trees, grass for paddocks and other simple materials to make their model more lifelike.

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Can they create a water catchment in a computer model such as Minecraft?

The following activity: Constructing an aquifer model is another hands-on visual representation of the connections in the water cycle - the atmosphere, surface and ground water.

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This can be constructed with a few simple materials - a clear(ish) plastic container or lunch box, some soil, grass, small vegetative clippings for trees and a paper cup. If you have a pump from a bottle of hand soap or shampoo, you can simulate how we get water from the ground for drinking water or irrigation.

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Again, students can get creative with Lego houses, small plastic animals, cars etc. to show how people fit into the water cycle.

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Take photos to see what the different models look like! Add labels to the parts of the model. Create a video explaining how the model works.

In the following cross-curricular activity, students visualise themselves as a drop of water in the water cycle. The activity includes visual and written literacy components.