Learning kitGrades 4-8
Earth science and the environment
Follow the rain
Rain a real storm on a valley and follow the water down to the creek. Build a ridge and watch a pond fill, pave a town where the forest was and rain the same storm again, then solve two pollution mysteries by testing the creek water upstream until you find the place that is to blame. Ages 10 to 14.
- Time
- About 60 minutes on screen, in two or three sittings.
- Steps
- 6 steps, 6 of them in Watershed Lab
- You need
- A computer or Chromebook with a mouse, trackpad or touch screen. Nothing else: every storm, creek and test kit is on the screen.
The 6 steps
These open once the kit is unlocked.
- 1The first stormIn Watershed LabThis valley is about four kilometers across, mostly forest, with a creek running down to a beach. Before anything else, make it rain. Watch where the water goes, then read the card: out of all the rain that fell, how much soaked into the ground and how much ran off into the creeks?
- 2Shape itIn Watershed LabWater always runs downhill, so the shape of the land decides where it goes. Build a ridge right across the valley and rain again. The water stops behind it and a pond fills, the way a lake forms behind a dam.
- 3Build a townIn Watershed LabNow find out what a town does to the creek. Paint a town across the valley where the forest is, keep the same storm, and rain again. Then compare the card with your first storm. Changing only one thing, the land, and keeping the storm the same is what makes it a fair test.
- 4Dig into the soilIn Watershed LabThe ground under the land matters too. Sand has big spaces between its grains and takes water in fast. Clay has tiny spaces, and water squeezes in slowly. Change the soil under the whole valley to clay and rain the same storm again.
- 5Find the sourceIn Watershed LabSomething is wrong with the water at the beach, and one place on the creeks upstream is to blame. Fill vials of creek water and read each one on its test. Water below the leak tests high and water above it tests clean, so each vial tells you which way to go. When only one place is left, name it.
- 6Another mysteryIn Watershed LabPress Next mystery for a new valley and a new problem: a different thing to test for, with its own kit and its own line. This time, plan before every vial and try to beat par, the number of vials shown before you start.
Work on a computer. The apps need a keyboard and a bigger screen than a phone: a laptop, desktop or Chromebook. You can pay here and open the emailed link on the computer.
One learner
Unlock the kit, $5
- All 6 steps, worked on screen, with a lesson you can print if you like paper
- Watershed Lab activities that check the work as it is done
- A numbered certificate with a page of the learner's own work: your notes, the runoff before and after your town, and your mysteries
Have a discount code?
Co-ops and classes: unlock it for a group
One payment and one code. Each learner types the code to unlock the kit on their own computer, and gets their own certificate at the end. Your pack page shows who has started and finished.
See a sample certificate (PDF) · Already paid? Find your link