Snack-Sized Science: Wading into Water Quality!

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Chemistry, Biology

What it is

This 25-minute video from EarthEcho International will show you how to perform several different types of water quality tests in your classroom.
This demonstration provides tips for using their EarthEcho kit or for using basic tools and indicators, testing for pH, turbidity, temperature, and other parameters.

Positives

This is a good resource for teachers to learn how to do these tests with students.
The video is also easy for students to understand, so they can watch the demonstration if materials aren't available.

Prerequisites

Teachers will need to order the kit mentioned in the video, purchase a pool or aquarium testing kit, or use pH paper, a thermometer, and a self-made Secchi disk using white paper, a black marker, and scissors.

Differentiation & Implementation

Due to the length of the video, this resource should be shown in smaller chunks or assigned as homework if you're using the test kit they offer.
Science classes can discuss the importance of oxygen to all animals, including dissolved oxygen for aquatic and marine organisms, and link this lesson with cellular respiration.
Other resources about water pollution include this video about chemical pollution and this lesson about the Everglades.

There are no misconceptions in the practical video. This resource is recommended. Date: 05/09/2021

Hosted on earthecho.org

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Standards alignment · MS-PS3-D.2. + 5 more

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-PS3-D.2.Cellular respiration in plants and animals involve chemical reactions with oxygen that release stored energy. In these processes, complex molecules containing carbon react with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and other materials. (secondary to MS-LS1-7)

English Language Arts

SL.PE.7.1Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
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.

Mathematics

HSS.IC.B.6(+)Evaluate reports based on data (e.g., interrogate study design, data sources, randomization, the way the data are analyzed and displayed, inferences drawn and methods used; identify and explain misleading uses of data; recognize when arguments based on data are flawed).

Science

HS-LS2-3.Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for the cycling of matter and flow of energy in aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
HS-ESS2-5.Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.