Earth Science Week Classroom Activities

Exploring Watersheds in North America

Activity Source: Written by AGI for ESW 2024

Watersheds serve as natural drainage systems, collecting rainfall and channeling it towards a common outlet such as lakes, rivers, or oceans. The health of watersheds directly impacts the availability and cleanliness of water for drinking, agriculture, and ecosystems. Additionally, watersheds play a critical role in regulating water cycles, mitigating floods, and replenishing groundwater reserves. Understanding and managing watersheds is essential for sustainable water resource management and ecosystem conservation, ensuring the well-being of both human and natural communities.

Shower Curtain Watershed Model

Materials

  • clear, plastic shower curtain
  • spray bottle with water
  • dry erase markers
  • various objects to create different elevations (e.g., books, balls, small boxes)

Procedure

  1. Examine the Watersheds in North America map on the front of the 2024 ESW poster. Make a hypothesis as to where the outlets for each watershed may be located.

  2. Construct a model of a watershed by arranging objects like books, balls, chairs, etc. on a flat surface to simulate landscape features in a watershed. Drape a shower curtain over the objects to represent the ground surface of the model.

  3. Make predictions for how water will travel over the shower curtain. Draw predictions using the dry erase markers:

  • Arrows: Draw arrows to show the direction you predict water will flow.
  • Circles: Mark the areas where you predict water will accumulate or pool.
  • Lines: Draw lines to indicate ridges or divides which direct the flow of water into different areas.

  1. Using a spray bottle, test out your predictions by gently spray water over the top of the shower curtain, starting from what represents the highest point of your landscape. Make observations of how the water moves.

  2. Explore the watershed where you live at USGS Science in Your Watershed website.

  3. Follow along on the journey of a raindrop using River Runner. Choose a starting point anywhere on the map and track the raindrop’s pathway as it navigates through various waterways. Observe how the landscape and water systems evolve along the raindrop’s route.

Monterey Bay Aquarium has detailed instructions and discussion questions that can be found in their Shower Curtain Watershed lesson.