Teacher Resources For World Water Day
The Flint Water Crisis has brought the importance of clean drinking water to the forefront of the U.S. media stream. Unfortunately, Flint is not the only area where humans face water issues. The United Nations reports that nearly 800 million people in the world lack daily access to clean, safe water.
To make global citizens aware of the issues that surround water, the United Nations instituted World Water Day in 1992. This year the day takes place on March 22. With the prevalence of current media coverage regarding water, World Water Day offers teachers an excellent way to tie school lessons to important current events. To help you, we have compiled some resources that you can use with your kids.
The focus of World Water Day 2016 is ‘Water & Jobs – Better Water, Better Jobs’. With this year’s theme, the United Nations is building awareness that over 1.5 billion people work in water-related jobs yet many are not protected by basic labor rights. So first, some water job resources…
- Water Is Work Highlights - view 14 short summaries of people that work with water around the world (select the ‘Water Is Work’ tab).
- Couragion Hydrogeologist Quest – this role model travels the world to assess groundwater quantity and quality. Hear about her work trips to amazing places such as Zambia and learn about water monitoring wells. You can view a brief preview. Or get the app to view the entire Quest.
- Couragion Water Engineer Quest – learn how engineers build plants to purify water and get a firsthand view of a water purification facility. Buy the app to view this Quest.
In addition to learning about water jobs, you can help your students learn about water consumption and conservation using these resources:
- What Is Your Water Footprint? – use this interactive tool to help students see how much water they consume.
- 36 Eye-Opening Facts About Water – read about interesting water facts from how much water is used by people in different countries to how much water is on the Earth.
- Water Cycle Tool – use this learning game to help kids better understand Earth’s water cycle.
Have you found a water-related educational resource that kids love? If so, please share it via the comment feature. Happy Water Day!
Sources: http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/about/en/