This lesson builds on students’ prior knowledge of the water cycle. The teacher creates a watershed model to demonstrate runoff. Next, students locate their watershed on Michigan’s Water World poster and determine into which Great Lake their watershed empties. Lastly, they investigate how streamflow characteristics vary between Michigan rivers depending upon watershed size, time of year, and other factors.

Building upon their prior knowledge of the water cycle,students explore how groundwater moves and howit interacts with surface water in a watershed.

Students identify common pollutants in storm water,compare the quantity of runoff from different land covers,and then apply this knowledge to their comparison oftwo aerial photos taken in 1975 and 2010, respectively, tohypothesize how land use and cover changes may affectthe quantity and quality of storm water runoff.

Students learn about floods, discovering that different types of floods occur from different water sources, but primarily from heavy rainfall. While floods occur naturally and have benefits such as creating fertile farmland, students learn that with the increase in human population in flood-prone areas, floods are become increasingly problematic. Both natural and manmade factors contribute to floods. Students learn what makes floods dangerous and what engineers design to predict, control and survive floods.

Lonnie Johnson tried to create a new cooling system for refrigerators and air conditioners, but instead created the mechanics for one of the top twenty toys of all time, the Super Soaker. From childhood to adulthood, Lonnie had a love for rockets, robots, inventions, and a mind for creativity. He was driven toward innovation through his persistence and passion for problem solving, tinkering, and building. These traits served him well as we went on to work for NASA as an engineer. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Students will use materials on hand to invent and design a new toy or game.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Sixth grade students in Boston, MA created a geology book for young readers with a unique format: it is written as a graphic informational book, similar to the graphic novels that students enjoy.  During a four-month investigation, the students explored a nearby geological feature, Hemlock Gorge, in order to understand geological processes. This film features interviews with the teacher and former students, and poses the question of what understanding actually looks like, and how students can demonstrate it. Illuminates Massachusetts Science Standard: Earth’s History: "Describe and give examples of ways in which the earth’s surface is built up and torn down by natural processes, including deposition of sediments, rock formation, erosion, and weathering."

Discover how water is gathered and travels to larger and larger watersheds to meet the sea.

GeoInquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advanced web mapping technology. Each 15-minute activity in a collection is intended to be presented by the instructor from a single computer/projector classroom arrangement. No installation, fees, or logins are necessary to use these materials and software.