Many people around the world live with huge water challenges and have to prioritise their water uses every day.
In Aotearoa1 New Zealand, we are lucky to not have to think about water priorities often, with reliable supplies of clean treated water provided to our taps. Most people on municipal water supplies have few water challenges, but what if it wasn’t this way? Carrying out a water challenge with limited water amounts is useful to help students appreciate that our priorities for water use may change according to how much water we have available.
In this cross-curricular activity, students take part in a water challenge to:
- calculate their daily water use at home and at school
- participate in a water for a day challenge
- consider water use priorities when making decisions.
This activity is part of a suite of resources that support Smart Water – a context for learning, which provides students and teachers with opportunities to connect with water and learn more about drinking water in the Waikato region. The science and mātauranga2 concepts that underpin Smart Water are transferable to other locations in Aotearoa New Zealand.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- investigate their daily water use at school and at home
- calculate water use using numeracy skills
- participate in a water challenge, making decisions about how to prioritise water use.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Nature of science
This activity supports the Nature of Science3 ‘Participating and contributing’ strand. Students explore various aspects of an issue and make decisions about personal actions.
Related content
Smart Water – a context for learning groups Smart Water resources into key science and teaching concepts that underpin water conservation4.
Rivers and Us – a context for learning has pedagogical information and links to numerous resources that explore water use and water quality.
Why is water important? Find out in this article.
Activity ideas
Other activities in Smart Water:
- Getting to know water collects students’ prior knowledge and experiences of freshwater as the starting point to form an inquiry plan.
- Water in nature explores states of matter5 in the water cycle6.
- Te mana o te wai explores the concept of mauri7 – the health and wellbeing of a waterway.
- Water in the Waikato explores the major freshwater features and sources of water for the Waikato region.
- Global water perspectives explores water availability and water stress8 around the world, with comparison and reflection on Aotearoa New Zealand’s situation.
- Getting water ready to drink explores the drinking water treatment process.
- Water issues and effects explores water issues in the Waikato region, their effects and alternative possibilities.
- Being smart with water uses the knowledge gained from the ongoing inquiry to make a difference in how we use water.
Useful links
Visit Smart Water for water level alerts, water saving tips and more.
The Guardian lists the typical values for the volume9 of water required to produce common foodstuffs in table and spreadsheet formats.
World Data Lab has an interactive global water scarcity timeline.Acknowledgement
This resource has been produced with the support of Smart Water.
- Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
- mātauranga: Māori cultural knowledge and understanding of the world; Māori wisdom.
- nature of science: The Nature of Science (NoS), is an overarching and unifying strand of the New Zealand science curriculum. Through it, students develop the skills, attitudes and values to build a foundation for understanding the world around them – understanding how science works in order to make links between scientific knowledge and everyday decisions and actions.
- conservation: The protection, preservation and careful management of a species, habitat, artifact or taonga.
- states of matter: The classical states of matter are solid, liquid and gas. Several other states, such as plasma, do exist. Plasma is the most common form of matter in the universe.
- water cycle: The continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth (also known as the hydrological cycle).
- mauri: Life force or spiritual essence of a person, place or thing.
- stress: In mechanics, a force applied to a body.
In ecology and physiology, a response to a stimulus, e.g. an environmental factor, that disturbs or interferes with the normal equilibrium. - volume: 1. The quantity of space occupied by a liquid, solid or gas. Common units used to display volume include cubic metres, litres, millilitres, tablespoons and teaspoons. (Volume can refer to a large quanity of something). 2. The degree of sound intensity or audibility; loudness.
