Search Virginia.gov:

Virginia Department of Education

Information on this page is provided by the Office of Standards, Curriculum & Instruction.

Staff Contacts

Instruction

Wetlands: Here All Year? Session 3

Lesson Plans Contents

• Lesson Plans Home
• Journey of a Raindrop to the Chesapeake Bay
• Does It Soak Right In?
• Wetlands: Here All Year?
• Types of Pollution
• Stream Creatures: Clues to Stream Health
• Muddying the Waters
• Grasses, Grasses Everywhere
• Who Killed SAV?
• A River Runs Through It
• Riparian Buffers
• Captain John Smith's Chesapeake Bay
• Succession and Forest Habitats
• Bay and Pond Food Webs
• Native vs. Non-native Species: Who Will Win?
• Wasting Water
• Going for Water

Wetlands: Here All Year? Lesson Plan includes:

• Wetlands: Here All Year? Home
• Background
• Session 1
• Session 2
• Session 3
• Classroom Assessment Suggestions
• Extensions for Students
• Resources

 

Session 3

Print version of "Wetlands: Here All Year?": PDF • Word

Conduct this session in the schoolyard.

1. Provide each student with a copy of the Puddle Lab Sheet. Choose one of several options when organizing the class for the experiment. One option is to use a single puddle and let different students gather data at different times of the day. Another option is to use several puddles and assign a group of students to each puddle. The experiment may be performed on puddles created by rainfall or by water from a hose. For each puddle, the class will need a watch, a Celsius thermometer, and a meter stick.
   
2. Read aloud the question on the lab sheet and instruct students to write their hypotheses. Review methods of taking temperature, measuring in centimeters, and telling time. Relate the importance of measuring the width of the puddle in the same direction each time.
   
3. Collect data several times during the day, as your schedule allows.
   
4. After collecting data, provide time for students to draw graphs and write conclusions. (See Preparing Graphs and Charts in the Project Action Guide.) Instruct students to draw a bar graph or line graph showing the time elapsed on the x-axis and the width of the puddle on the y-axis.
   Option for advanced students:
   Direct students to draw their graphs to illustrate the change in area, rather than width, over time. Students will use the width of the puddle as an approximate diameter (as long as the puddle is approximately a circle). They will divide the diameter by 2 to find the radius and use it in the formula for the area of a circle.
   
5. When students have finished, discuss how the graphs illustrate evaporation of water and how the experiment relates to wetlands that are wet during only part of the year.
   

Top of Page