Current Module



 

Hand Land

Lesson Plan

Class setting
The students are paired into working teams.
The instructor has prepared materials for each team.
The instructor has their own materials ready for the description of the activity to the students. Modification and expansion of the activities are found below.

Script of class interactions
Make a connection with previous discussion of watershed.
Introduce the water cycle drawing.
Review the water cycle.

  click to enlarge

Display Materials
Overhead Projection 1
Show water cycle drawing.
Ask how rain water travels between land and the atmosphere.
Use the water cycle drawing to help the discussion.
Introduce key words: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation

   3d model of a small watershed

Overhead Projection 2
Show the 3-d model of a small watershed
Explain how rainwater enters into a watershed. A watershed is like a natural bath tab that drains out at the lowest point.  
Point out the boundary lines, high areas and low areas.

Overhead Projection 3
Show the topographical map of a watershed
Explain that topographic maps consist of concentric, contour lines. They use 2-D means to describe three-dimensional surfaces in the landscapes with hills and valleys, streams and rivers. They can be simple or complex.

click to enlarge  
 
Topographical map of a watershed

Lesson Plan

Activities
 

Activity 1: Create a topographical map of your Hand-Land.

  • Review the watershed concept.
  • Remind them of the topographical map of a watershed.
  • Discuss boundary lines, high and low elevations.
  • For our topographical map, students will mark a series of concentric lines 1/4" in from the outline of their hand.
  • Materials are passed out and students begin to create topographical maps.
 

Activity 2: Where will the water go when it rains?

  • Have the students look carefully at their hands.
  • Think about the 3-D model that they have looked at. Water flows down hill. How will water move when it falls on the surface of their hands?
  • Each student should place three dots on their hand. Match these same points with a pen on their drawing.
  • Draw a line with an arrow to show which way the water will move when it "rains" on their Hand-Land.
 

Activity 3: Discovering the movement of water in a watershed

  • Teacher's introduction: Observe the topography of your Hand.
  • Notice its high points, the bone structure, the low points.
  • Take a water dropper and have the students put water drop by drop on their dots. Have them carefully observe which way the water moves.
  • Track the movement of the water on their hand on their topographical map. Once they know which way the water moves in the area of the three dots, let them experiment with other areas of their hand.
  • Each experiment and its related water movement must be recorded on their drawing.
 

Activity 4: Finding a watershed boundary

  • Teacher's introduction: Notice that the high points and ridgelines of the the bone structure become the dividing lines that separate watershed boundaries.
  • Ask students to carefully identify a single watershed with a specific color crayon. (right)
  • Then have them discover the total number of watersheds on their hand.
 

Activity 5: Evaluation and Wrap up.

  • Ask students to draw what actually happened vs what they thought would happen.
  • Ask students to write a brief description (3-4 sentences) of their observations in their notebooks.
  • Ask students to count the watersheds and identify the boundaries on their Hand-Lands.
  • Share their discovery.
  • Show map of North America. Find the major watersheds on the continent.

Explain the concept of a sub-watershed and its relationship to a larger watershed.
 
Is the Hand-Land a
single watershed
or a group of
sub-watersheds?