Journey of Water: From Páramo to the Kitchen Sink

Lesson Plans

Grades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Earth and Space Sciences

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by The Nature Conservancy

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What it is

In this virtual field trip from Nature Lab by The Nature Conservancy, students will learn about fresh water and the watershed for the city of Bogotá.
Students will understand the importance of water conservation and become familiar with some of the wildlife that lives in Columbia.
This lesson connects with climate change topics such as changing precipitation patterns, increasing droughts, and more evaporation due to higher temperatures.

Teaching tips

Positives

Students will love seeing the wildlife in these ecosystems.
Through this field trip, students will get insight into what it is like to have a career in science and hear from a real scientist working in Columbia.

Prerequisites

Teachers will need to access the virtual field trip using this link. If teachers do not have access to YouTube, they can go to this link and scroll to the video titled Journey of Water: Colombia’s Páramo.
It may benefit students to understand that, while water is a renewable resource, there is only a finite amount of clean drinking water that can be used at one time.

Differentiation & Implementation

Teachers can use this virtual field trip to discuss water filtration and the need for clean water. Teachers can also talk about water scarcity and the impact climate change has on access to water.
Teachers may want to pause the video as text pops up on the screen so students have time to read or read this text aloud to students.
After watching the segment discussing the water footprint of various things, students can use this calculator to add an interactive component to this topic.
Before hearing the other students' responses, teachers can pause the video at 14:48 and ask their class to think of ways they use water.
After watching the video, students can take some time to research their watersheds and where their water comes from.

From the scientist review

This resource provides teachers with a virtual field trip guide and lesson plan for students to learn about ecosystems and the movement of water. Students will take a virtual field trip through Colombia and experience the biodiversity of an ecosystem near Bogota. The link to the virtual field trip was not provided in the resource but can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pczl6TcFo_0. The resource also includes discussion questions and vocabulary words from a reputable source. Ultimately, this resource would be a great addition to a classroom discussion on biodiversity and the movement of water.

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At a glance

Grades: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences
Other types: Videos, Activity - Classroom, Worksheets
Format: PDF, YouTube Video
Language: English
Location: South America
Provider: The Nature Conservancy
Authors: Nature Lab by The Nature Conservancy
Published: June 14, 2025
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.6 + 14 more

Core

Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.6Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-LS2-5.Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
MS-ESS3-4.Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
3-LS4-C.For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. (3-LS4-3)
5-ESS2-A.Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. (5-ESS2-1)
5-ESS3-C.Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. (5-ESS3-1)
MS-LS2-C.2.Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health. (MS-LS2-5)
MS-LS4-D.Changes in biodiversity can influence humans’ resources, such as food, energy, and medicines, as well as ecosystem services that humans rely on— for example, water purification and recycling. (secondary to MS-LS2-5)
MS-ESS3-A.Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes. (MS-ESS3-1)

New Jersey Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

SL.II.7.2Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
L.VL.7.3Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, including technical meanings, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Science

3-LS4-3.Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
3-LS4-4.Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
5-ESS2-1.Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
5-ESS3-1.Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

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