Raising Your Water IQ A Water Conservation Curriculum for Middle School
Raising Your Water IQ is an inquiry based approach to teaching middle school students about Texas water resources and how to conserve water resources for today and the future. Four messages are central to this study:
- Where Does Our Water Come From?
- Who Uses Water and How Do We Use It?
- Why and How Do We Conserve Water?
- How Can We Plan Our Water Future?
Activities and lesson plans in this curriculum offer structured opportunities to practice the concepts in a classroom. Watersheds and surface water systems are related to groundwater systems. Point and non-point source pollution is explored in hands-on and minds-on activities. Students gather and graph data for their own water usage at home and go further to investigate water use in Texas. A "Water in Texas" web quest and accompanying web resources encourage students to ask questions and gain understanding about their own local environment.
For additional details, please read the Raising Your Water IQ Teacher's Guide, or the Raising Water IQ Introduction.
Conservation Games
Web Quests
Texas Water-related Maps
Please refer to the Map page for updated version
- Regional Water Planning Groups
- Major Texas Water Resources
- Major River Basins in Texas
- Major Aquifers
- Minor Aquifers
- Groundwater Management Areas
- Groundwater Conservation Districts
Correlation to The Texas Essential knowledge and skills for Science (TEKS) for Middle school
Review Chapter 112. Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science Subchapter B. Middle School
Grade 6
§112.18. Science, Grade 6, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
- (a) Introduction
- (4) The strands for Grade 6 include:
- (A) Scientific investigations and reasoning.
- (iii) Scientific investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and the methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. Models have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world.
§112.22. Science, Grade 6, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
-
(a) Introduction
(3) Students classify substances by their chemical properties and identify the water cycle and decay of biomass as examples of the interactions between matter and energy. They identify life processes and the relationships between structure and function of organisms. -
(b) Knowledge and skills.
(1) Scientific processes. The student conducts field and laboratory investigations using safe, environmentally appropriate, and ethical practices. The student is expected to:
(B) make wise choices in the use and conservation of resources and the disposal or recycling of materials.
(3) Scientific processes. The student uses critical thinking and scientific problem solving to make informed decisions. The student is expected to:
(C) represent the natural world using models and identify their limitations;
(4) Science concepts. The student knows the structures and functions of Earth systems. The student is expected to:
(B) identify relationships between groundwater and surface water in a watershed;
Grade 7
§112.19. Science, Grade 7, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
-
(a) Introduction
(4) The strands for Grade 7 include:
(A) Scientific investigation and reasoning.
(iii) Scientific investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and the methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. Models have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world. -
(b) Knowledge and skills.
(8) Earth and space. The student knows that natural events and human activity can impact Earth systems. The student is expected to:
(C) model the effects of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed.
§112.23. Science, Grade 7, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
-
(a) Introduction
(6) Investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and that methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. They have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world. -
(b) Knowledge and skills.
14) Science concepts. The student knows that natural events and human activity can alter Earth systems. The student is expected to:
(B) analyze effects of regional erosional deposition and weathering; and
(C) make inferences and draw conclusions about effects of human activity on Earth's renewable, non-renewable, and inexhaustible resources.
Grade 8
§112.20. Science, Grade 8, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
-
(a) Introduction
(4) The strands for Grade 8 include:
(A) Scientific investigation and reasoning.
(iii) Scientific investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and the methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. Models have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world. -
(b) Knowledge and skills.
(11) Organisms and environments. The student knows that interdependence occurs among living systems and the environment and that human activities can affect these systems. The student is expected to:
(D) recognize human dependence on ocean systems and explain how human activities such as runoff, artificial reefs, or use of resources have modified these systems.
§112.24. Science, Grade 8, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011
-
(a) Introduction
(7) Investigations are used to learn about the natural world. Students should understand that certain types of questions can be answered by investigations, and that methods, models, and conclusions built from these investigations change as new observations are made. Models of objects and events are tools for understanding the natural world and can show how systems work. They have limitations and based on new discoveries are constantly being modified to more closely reflect the natural world. -
(b) Knowledge and skills.
14) Science concepts. The student knows that natural events and human activities can alter Earth systems. The student is expected to:
(A) predict land features resulting from gradual changes such as mountain building, beach erosion, land subsidence, and continental drift;
(B) analyze how natural or human events may have contributed to the extinction of some species; and
(C) describe how human activities have modified soil, water, and air quality.