Reservoirs of the Water Cycle

Summary

Students will predict how much water is in each reservoir of the water cycle by making a pie chart. After a demonstration they will then create a pie chart of the actual amount in each reservoir.

Materials

• 1000 ml beaker
• pitcher of water
• overhead of Amount of Water in Each Reservoir (attached)
• student sheet (attached)
• colored pencils
• rulers
• data chart for overhead (attached)

Instructional Procedures

1. Have a pitcher of water and an empty 1000 ml beaker ready for the demonstration section.
2. Hand out the student sheet. Read through the introduction with the students. Once students have created their list of natural reservoirs, discuss it as a class. That way you can make sure students don't have things like a bath tub or cup of water on their list.
3. Show the students an example of a pie chart (there is one on the last page), so they know how it should be created.
4. Give students time to create their hypothesis pie chart.
5. When students are finished, hold up the empty beaker. Tell students that the 1000 ml of water poured into the beaker will represent all the water on the Earth. Ask them to tell you how much of the Earth's water they think is in the oceans. Begin pouring "ocean" water into the beaker and have students tell you when to stop. A lot of them will tell you to stop between 50-75%. You can stop as students tell you to and have the class vote whether they think that is right or not. Then continue pouring "ocean" water until you get to 970 ml (almost to 1000). Students are often very surprised that the oceans hold that much of the Earth's water. You can then use a dropper to show them how much is in the other 6 reservoirs listed on the table.
6. Put up the overhead of actual percentages of reservoirs of the water cycle.
7. Give students time to complete actual pie chart and answer questions.

Assessment Plan

Scoring Guide:

1. Completed list of reservoirs under introduction……………………………… 4
2. Completed hypothesis pie chart………………………………………………. 4
3. Completed actual pie chart…………………………………………………….. 4
4. Completed Analysis and conclusion………………………………………….. 4

Answers to Questions:

1. 97.01%
2. 2%
3. .99%
4. There is a less than 1% of fresh water readily available.
5. We can't drink salt water, it causes metals to rust faster, it has different properties than fresh water, etc.

Bibliography

Lesson Design by Jordan School District Teachers and Staff.