Exercise Two

FutureWater Exercise Option 2: Would climate change reduce groundwater recharge?

Lesson Objectives:

Students will understand that groundwater is the water present under the Earth’s surface in rocks and soil. They will use the data gathered from the FutureWater website to understand groundwater in their area, and how it affects their everyday lives. To demonstrate that they have learned these concepts, they will apply their knowledge in Part B of the student worksheet to complete the activities.

Lesson Plan:

Below is an outline of how you can prepare for completing the worksheet.

  1. Begin by individually writing down where you think your everyday water comes from.
  2. Watch an informational video about groundwater and how it impacts the environment: https://youtu.be/oNWAerr_xEE
  3. Come up with a definition for groundwater and how it might affect your everyday life.
  4. Read about the definition and processes of aquifers and groundwater recharge: https://www.carleton.edu/departments/geol/links/alumcontributions/antinoro_03/smcwebsite/AquiferNRecharge.htm
  5. Go to the FutureWater site and play around with the different features for a few minutes to get a feel for how the site works.
  6. Follow the steps listed on the worksheet to begin answering the questions in Part A.
  7. Write down your ideas about how the variations in groundwater recharge would affect your everyday life.
  8. Complete Part B of the worksheet.