This week the students looked into one of our most important natural resources: Water. To gain a better understanding of how much water each of their families used in one day we applied a bit of science and math. To calculate how much water their shower uses in one minute, they used a timer and containers to catch the water at home, one came up with 6L/min while myself and another student measure our showers to use 12L/min. At school, they calculated how much water is used for whatever length of time they shower for. We also used rough estimates to figure out how much water gets used for other things at home: Bath tub 150-200L, Washing Machine 50-60L, Toilet 5L/ flush, Kitchen (Cooking & Washing) 10-20L/day, and of course drinking water 2L/ person each day.
After all our calculations were done, the class average was about 500L a day per family, some were around 440L, while another was about 560L. We discussed some ways to save water such as taking shorter showers, to turn off the tap when brushing teeth, or reusing bath water to do the laundry.
We also looked at just how much fresh water there is in the world. By breaking the world down to a grid and then counting the squares that were either: salt water, frozen fresh water, or fresh water we could get an idea of just how little liquid fresh water there is on the planet. As can be seen in the graph below:
Finally, our trash collecting homework also came to an end on Friday as the students took some time to separate and sort the trash that they had amassed over the week. When sorting through it, they noticed that the majority of it was either paper or plastic waste. On Monday and Tuesday, we will discuss what personal choices they can make to help the environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment