Learning Module – Freshwater
Clean water is one of Earth's most important natural resources. All the planet's organisms need water. Check out this Distance Learning Module to learn even more about freshwater and why it is important!
Below you will find links to videos, experiments, and articles on all things freshwater. If you would like to complete the entire module - it will take about a month. If you are looking for a more focused lesson, the module includes four main units: The Water Cycle, Watersheds, Animals and Plants in Freshwater, and Water Issues. Follow the links below for activities and more within each section.
If you'd like to show these videos in their entirety, rather than the clips provided for each unit below, you can access the full videos at FreshWaterLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure. Freshwater LIVE also has links to other activities, lesson plans, and resources.
Introduction to Freshwater
- Build Your Own Rain Gauge – Start this month long experiment featured in our Natural IQ edition
Materials needed: five 2-liter bottles, scissors, duct tape, ruler, permanent marker, pebbles, water, and a notebook
The Water Cycle
This sub unit includes activities that should take about three days to complete.
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1 to 1 1/2 hours
- Watch the introduction to Freshwater Live
- Watch this clip about the Water Cycle
- Read “Under Where?” from our Freshwater edition
- Answer the reflection section questions found in the article – review your answers here
- Build a Water Cycle Cube – complete the FACTivity in “Under Where?”
- Write a story about a water dropelt’s progress through the water cycle
Materials needed: Water cycle cube (template provided in FACTivity), paper, pencils, scissors, tape or glue
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2 days, 1 hour for set up, 1 day of waiting to collect data
- Read “Flow Down” from our Natural IQ edition
- Answer the reflection section question found in the article
- Complete the alternate FACTivity from “Under Where?” – compare a house plant’s and an indoor plant’s use of water
Materials needed: potted house plant, saucer, small plastic bag, water, paper, pencil
Watersheds
This sub unit includes activities that should take 4-5 days to complete.
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2 Hours
- Watch this clip on Watersheds and Drainage Divides (2:18 min)
- Watch this clip on how Forests Keep Watersheds Healthy (2:03 min)
- Read “Green Means Clean” from our Freshwater edition about conducting a national assessment of U.S drinking watershed quality
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
- Complete the FACTivity from “Green Means Clean” to determine which land cover surface best protects water quality
Materials needed: 3 paint roller pans, a shovel, kitchen oil, 2 gallons of water in plastic jugs, a garden sprinkler can, red/blue food coloring
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1 to 1 1/2 Hours
- Read “Caribbean Cruise” from our Freshwater NI about course particulate organic matter in streams over time
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
- Complete the FACTivity from “Caribbean Cruise” and determine what you can learn from gage height and stream flow data overtime
Materials needed: a pencil and graph paper
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2 to 3 Hours
- Read “Did They Make the Gradient?” from our Cimate Change NI about what factors affect stream temperatures
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
- Complete the FACTivity from “Did They Make the Gradient?” to test whether the movement of water affets its temperature
Materials needed: 3 clear 1-quart plastic containers, 2 aquarium thermometers
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10 Minutes
- Watch two clips from Freshwater Live to wrap up on watersheds
- South Platte watershed (4:03)
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- Chesapeake Bay watershed (2:35)
- Watch two clips from Freshwater Live to wrap up on watersheds
Animals & Plants in Freshwater
This sub unit includes activities that should take about 4 days to complete.
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1 to 1 1/2 hours
- Watch these clips from Freshwater Live
- Indicators of a Healthy Watershed (3:12 mins)
- The Last Dragons: Hellbenders (3:15 mins)
- Trout in the Classroom (2:24 mins)
- Freshwater Provides Recreational Opportunities (3:57 mins)
- Read “Timed Travel” from our Freshwater NI about how stream temperatures affect the development of Chinook salmon
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
- Answer this discussion/writing prompt: How are the data from “Timed Travel” and “Did They Make the Gradient?” related? What conclusions can we hypothesize about stream conditions and the ecosystem? What other species might be affected by the stream temperatures and how?
- Watch these clips from Freshwater Live
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1 to 1 1/2 hours
- Read “Toad-ally Awesome” from our Ecosystem Services NI about how flooding affects the reproduction of toads along the Rio Grande
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
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Brainstorm a list of ecosystem services or benefits provided by waterways. Then research waterways in your area and identify how those waterways affect the plants and animals living near them.
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1 to 1 1/2 hours
- Read “Knocked Out by Trout” from our Invasive Species NI about how nonnative trout in stocked lakes affect the local tree frog population
- Complete the FACTivity in “Knocked out by Trout” to research and debate whether lakes and streams should be stocked, modify lesson for the number of students necessary
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1 to 2 hours
- Read “Swimming Upstream” from our Tropical NI about how to balance needs of shrimp and people in tropical streams, especially regarding dam-building
- Answer the reflection section questions as you read
- Complete the FACTivity in “Swimming Upstream” to model how river shrimp get caught in pipes or escape downstream
Water Issues
This sub unit includes activities that should take about 2 to 3 days to complete.
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1 1/2 to 2 hours
- Watch these clips from Freshwater Live to introduce some of the water issues facing us today
- How Students Help Conserve Water (2:01 mins)
- Tour of a Water Treatment Facility (3:02 mins)
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Read the “Full Throttle Model” monograph about modeling changes to land use within watersheds to help identify and prioritize watersheds with low water quality which need restoration
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Answer the reflection section questions as you read – review your answers here
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Complete the FACTivity in the “Full Throttle Model” and create a model to study how fish might react to water turbidity
Materials needed: clear plastic container, tape, scissors, paper clip, spoon, 1 cup of soil, and water - Watch these clips from Freshwater Live to introduce some of the water issues facing us today
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2 to 3 Hours
- Choose one of the following articles to read:
- “What’s the Nonpoint?” about sources of nonpoint pollution from our Freshwater edition
- “Sediment-al Journey” about metal concentrations in soils near urban waterways from our Freshwater edition
- “What Goes Around Comes Around” about how periods of drought affect wetlands from our Ecosystem Services edition
- “Fill Those Potholes” about the ecosystem services provided by prairie potholes and efforts to restore them from our Ecosystem Services edition
- Use the Thin and Thick Graphic Organizer to take notes on questions that arise during the reading
- *modifications: eliminate class discussion components and discuss findings with your student/child; help them choose and develop one of their “thick” questions for the writing assignment*
- Write a persuasive essay about one of your thick questions – see lesson plan linked above for detaills
- Watch these clips from Freshwater Live to wrap up water issues
- How to Help a Watershed (2:21)
- Rain Barrels Help Prevent Runoff (2:10)
- Trees Help Keep Water Clean (3:10)
- Water Travels from Forests to Faucets (2:08)
- Choose one of the following articles to read:
Conclusion to Freshwater
- Conclude the rain gauge FACTivity
- Complete the Final Assesment for this module (can be used at the end of the whole module or the end of the sub-units)
Note To Educators
The Forest Service's Mission
The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. For more than 100 years, our motto has been “caring for the land and serving people.” The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recognizes its responsibility to be engaged in efforts to connect youth to nature and to promote the development of science-based conservation education programs and materials nationwide.
What Is the Natural Inquirer?
Natural Inquirer is a science education resource journal to be used by students in grade 6 and up. Natural Inquirer contains articles describing environmental and natural resource research conducted by Forest Service scientists and their cooperators. These scientific journal articles have been reformatted to meet the needs of middle school students. The articles are easy to understand, are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, contain glossaries, and include hands-on activities. The goal of Natural Inquirer is to stimulate critical reading and thinking about scientific inquiry and investigation while teaching about ecology, the natural environment, and natural resources.
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Meet the Scientists
Introduces students to the scientists who did the research. This section may be used in a discussion about careers in science.
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What Kinds of Scientist Did This Research?
Introduces students to the scientific disciplines of the scientists who conducted the research.
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Thinking About Science
Introduces something new about the scientific process, such as a scientific habit of mind or procedures used in scientific studies.
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Thinking About the Environment
Introduces the environmental topic being addressed in the research.
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Introduction
Introduces the problem or question that the research addresses.
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Method
Describes the method the scientists used to collect and analyze their data.
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Findings & Discussion
Describes the results of the analysis. Addresses the findings and places them into the context of the original problem or question.
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Reflection Section
Presents questions aimed at stimulating critical thinking about what has been read or predicting what might be presented in the next section. These questions are placed at the end of each of the main article sections.
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Number Crunches
Presents an easy math problem related to the research.
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Glossary
Defines potentially new scientific or other terms to students. The first occurrence of a glossary word is bold in the text.
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Citation
Gives the original article citation with an internet link to the original article.
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FACTivity
Presents a hands-on activity that emphasizes something presented in the article.
Science Education Standards
You will find a listing of education standards which are addressed by each article at the back of each publication and on our website.
We Welcome Feedback
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Contact
Jessica Nickelsen
Director, Natural Inquirer program -
Email