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Investigating Water Use in Your Home

Water is often called a renewable resource, but what does that really mean? Is water an unlimited resource? What happens to water after we use it? This investigation will help you understand exactly how much water you use in your home and how you can keep from wasting water. If many people are participating in this investigation, work in small groups of 3-5. Before you begin, think about all the ways water is used in your home. How much water do you and your family use at home everyday? Record your thoughts and share them with others. Make a list that combines everyone’s uses of water in their homes.

It’s the “Rain,” Man

People find inspiration in many different places and things. Among them is taking joy in sensing the Earth around you. Feel the breeze on your face. Take in the fresh smell of the air after a spring rain. Use your hands to build something. Wherever you live you can get outside, savor your surroundings and observe what makes up the rhythms of the place you live.

Karst Topography Model

Did you know that a quarter of the world’s population gets drinking water from karst aquifers? Karst is the type of landscape that forms by dissolution of carbonate rocks (limestone, dolomite) or other highly soluble rocks such as evaporates (gypsum and rock salt). Karst includes caves, sinkholes, sinking streams, and springs. Karst environments are vulnerable to groundwater contamination. Understanding groundwater flow in karst terrains is critical for safe drinking water.

Know Your Energy Costs

Fossil fuels play an important role in allowing us to have lifestyles we’re accustomed to, but they do emit carbon dioxide, and we all want to be good stewards of our resources. The goal of this activity is to become aware of how much energy you use at school — and the financial and environmental costs.

Land and People: Finding a Balance

This environmental study project allows a group of students to consider real environmental dilemmas concerning water use and provide solutions to these dilemmas.

Leaf It to Me

In the water cycle, there are two ways water moves from the ground to the atmosphere: evaporation and transpiration. During evaporation, water changes from a liquid to a gas state. Transpiration is basically evaporation of water from plant leaves. Transpiration accounts for about 10 percent of the moisture in the atmosphere — with oceans, seas, and other bodies of water providing nearly all the rest.

Liquefaction

When it comes to slipping, sliding, and stability in soils, the key word is “liquefaction.”

During an event like an earthquake, liquefaction is the process by which saturated soil behaves like a liquid. This can be problematic, as a liquid soil loses structure and can cause buildings to sink, foundations to crack, and soil to slide down slopes all at once.

How does the type of soil affect how much a house will sink or shift during an earthquake? Conduct an experiment to test your ideas!

Logs of Straw - Dendrocronology

Dendrochronologists use tree rings to go back in time to learn more about past climate. Using straws to recreate tree rings, you can learn how dendrochronologists work.

Magnets at the Core

Learn about the Earth's magnetic poles and paleomagnetism in this activity from Consortium for Ocean Leadership.

Maintaining Soil Moisture

Soil is a vital component of almost every ecosystem, and its health often determines the viability of the whole ecosystem. If a soil cannot support the living organisms within it – such as insects, bacteria, fungi, and plant roots – then it is likely that the entire ecosystem will suffer. The same is true on farms. The success of crops is dependent on the health of the soil.

Earth Science Week

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