Contextualization

The planet Earth is composed of 70% water, however, only 2.5% of this total is fresh, and an even smaller portion is accessible for human use. Water scarcity is a growing problem that affects various regions of the world, including Brazil. Learning how to properly utilize water resources is essential to promote sustainable and conscious management.

When we talk about water resources, we refer to every body of water available in nature, whether in liquid, solid, or gaseous state. This includes rivers, seas, groundwater, glaciers, snow, and atmospheric humidity. The conscious use of water resources is a challenge that we will face in this project, through understanding the water cycle, surface runoff, basin morphology, hydrographic networks, and vegetation cover.

The main objective of the project is to develop awareness about the value of water and the importance of its responsible and rational management. To achieve this goal, we will explore the theme from multiple perspectives, using tools from Geography and Sciences to address physical, chemical, and biological aspects related to water.

Importance of the Theme

Water is a vital resource for maintaining life on the planet. It is essential for the survival of all living beings, for food production, energy generation, and for a variety of other human activities. Despite its importance, water resource management is still a challenge, with several parts of the world facing issues of scarcity and contamination.

In this context, understanding the water cycle and the importance of water bodies and their relationship with the earth's morphology is fundamental for effective water resource management. Furthermore, understanding how human activities impact the water cycle and water bodies is essential to develop strategies for responsible water use.

Activity

Project H2O: Knowing to Preserve

Project Objective

The objective of this project is to provide students with a broad and applied understanding of water resources and their utilization. Students will work together to develop a water resource management plan based on a critical analysis of the local situation, following research, simple experiments, and simulations.

Project Description

The project will be divided into four stages: research, experimentation, planning, and presentation.

Each stage will encompass one or more main theoretical concepts including the water cycle (stage 1), surface runoff and vegetation cover in the local region (stage 2), morphology of local basins and hydrographic networks (stage 3), and water reuse (stage 4).

Students will be divided into groups of 3 to 5, and each group must elect a leader responsible for managing tasks, timing, and the final report.

The project is expected to take approximately one month to complete, with an average of 12 hours of work per student.

Required Materials

1. Academic books/texts and web pages for research (suggestions were provided earlier)
2. Paper and pens for notes and drawings
3. Maps of local hydrographic networks
4. Buckets and measuring cups
5. Local soil and plants for simulations

Project Stages

1. Research: Each group must research the water cycle and the importance of water for our lives. Additionally, they should gather information about the state of water resources in the local region, identifying main issues and possible solutions.

2. Experimentation: Groups will conduct simple experiments to understand surface runoff and the impact of vegetation cover. They will simulate water flow on terrains with and without vegetation, observing the differences.

3. Planning: Based on the information collected in the previous stages, each group will create a water resource management plan for the local region. This plan should include measures to improve water flow, vegetation cover, and preservation of basins and hydrographic networks.

4. Presentation: Each group will present their water resource management plan to the class, explaining the theoretical concepts, experiments conducted, conclusions drawn, and proposed measures.

Project Deliverables

At the end of the project, each group must deliver:

1. Final Report: A written document containing:

   • Introduction: The project context, its relevance and real-world application, and the work's objective.

   • Development: The theory behind the topics covered, a detailed description of the activity, the methodology used, and the results obtained and discussed.

   • Conclusion: A summary of the main points addressed, explaining the learnings and conclusions drawn from the project.

   • Bibliography: List of sources used.

2. Presentation: The group must give a presentation to the class showing the final project results, the report, and explaining what they learned from the experience.

At the end of the project, students will have the opportunity not only to learn about a relevant topic for their lives and communities, but also to develop valuable skills such as collaboration, time management, problem-solving, and critical thinking.