Unit Overview

Unit Overview

Essential Question:

How does water affect both our lives and other cultures around the world and how can we make sure that we don’t pollute the water and become more aware?

Content Knowledge:

            In order to teach my students effectively about water pollution, I first had to learn about the topic. I started with researching different bodies of water and how much of the earth’s surface is covered by water, and how different bodies of water are used in our lives, for drinking water, sewage, and enjoyment. I then started to look at the effects of water pollution on the world, I found out that it can affect our ecosystem, cause diseases, kill aquatic life and destroy the food chain. Then I found an article that showed me different forms of pollution that are effecting the water, some were runoff, sewage treatment (which is a big one), littering, wastewater, and oil spills. Each a very important problem, by contaminating our water we can suffer big consequences. I want my students to understand how important that it so I then started to look for ways we use water, and how our lives would be without it, to show my students that water is very essential. I came up with a list of things we use water for, such as bathing, cooking, enjoyment, drinking, and toilets and for agriculture reasons. With this list, I furthered my search to see how people around the world are suffering without clean water, for these basic every day uses of water.

             I read serval articles about different places around the world that are suffering from water pollution and how it effects them, I want my students to learn about different cultures that can be effected because I find this is important to show students different cultures and their different uses for water. After researching all the different kinds of pollution, I started to look at clean up acts around the world that are trying to make sure that our waters are clean for now and our future. I found serval, like the waste, chemical and cleanup enforcement laws, superfund, federal facilities which are programs to clean up hazardous waste. I want to make sure that my students also have a full knowledge of what they can do to make sure that our water is clean.

Rational:

            Throughout our lives water is an everyday essential to being a healthy, functioning human beings; without water we would not be able to survive. I want to show my students how important it is that our water stays clean, for our use and for the future. I want to demonstrate why water is so important to us and make sure that each student understands that it’s a big deal. Water pollution affects everyone, not just us, but every culture around the world. I not only want them to know how important it is, but also how it affects us, the animals in the water, the land and people in general.

            By learning how it affects many different things, they will next learn how to make sure that they aren’t polluting the waters. It’s important for them to care about the planet and the water that we are provided with and be grateful for it. Throughout our readings and assignments I want my students to gain the message that water is essential and must be cared for, in order for us to live. They will be able to take the knowledge they gain from this unit and use it to further their education about the planet and how pollution is a serious thing.

Resources:

             My resources vary from picture books, videos and chapters for my students to read. First I will start with introducing the topic with having my students watch the video that I picked, called Taking Care of Our Earth, this video was made by students and teachers to show the importance of not only taking care of our earth, but also awareness of water pollution. It describes different pollutions and their different effects on the world and ourselves. This will give my students a visual way to learn and understand the topic.

            The next resource is my picture books that I picked out for this unit. One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul is about a girl named Isatou Ceesay that lives in Gambia and finds a plastic bag, after finding one, she finds hundreds. These plastic bags are not good for the environment, first livestock eat them, and they strangle their gardens and create diseases with the water pooled inside them. After all this she learned how to use the plastic bag in a different, more effective way; she created little purses and bags. This book shows how water pollution can affect many different cultures, but it also shows what we can do to recycle. The other picture book is called Tracking Trash by Loree Griffin Burns. This book captures flotsam which Dr. Curt Ebbesmeyer talks about, it’s the way the ocean moves and pushes things around, his mission is tracking trash found all around the world. I chose this book to show how trash in our ocean can affect other regions and learn from it. It also mentions the different garbage patches, which my students are going to learn about. The final picture book I picked is The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, this book has a fun and different way of showing the effects of pollution, not only water pollution but air and land pollution as well. This book also touched the meaning of greed and how it can control our thoughts and ideas that we do. I want to use these picture books as a fun, understanding way to have my students learn about water pollution and truly understand the effects.  

            I then picked a chapter from the book Dirty Water by Bill Sharpsteen. Which I also used as one of my resources too. This book begins with a prologue about how there was dumbing of sewage into the Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles (I would read this to the class); the next chapter is about a swimmer that didn’t know the water was contaminated and continued to swim in the water, later finding out and sharing his story. I thought this was a great example to show my students what it would be like if all our water was polluted and how much it would affect us.

Resources for my students:

1.      Burns, L. G. (2007). Tracking trash: Flotsam, jetsam, and the science of ocean motion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

2.      Paul, M., & Zunon, E. (2015). One plastic bag: Isatou Ceesay and the recycling women of the Gambia.

3.      Taking Care of Our Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://schoolmediainteractive.com/view/object/clip/5DE8CE6EDFBEAA8C6EACF442302F8C9D/07

4.      Sharpsteen, B. (2010). Dirty water: One man's fight to clean up one of the world's most polluted bays. Berkeley: University of California Press. (chapter swimmer)

5. Seuss,. (1971). The Lorax. New York: Random House.

Resources I used:

1.      E. (n.d.). What are the effects of water pollution. Retrieved from http://eschooltoday.com/pollution/water-pollution/effects-of-water-pollution.html

2.      A. F. (2010). Climate Systems. Retrieved from http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/STEP/nav_curriculum_climate_water_cycle.html

3.      Clean Water Act (CWA). (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/606358

4.      Water pollution. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/473593

5.      Water pollution. (2016). In Columbia University & P. Lagasse, The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Retrieved from http://library.smcvt.edu/login?qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fcolumency%2Fwater_pollution%2F0

Cleaning Up Our Land, Water and Air. (n.d.). Retriev