Water Cycle – P5Learning outcomes

Pupils will be able to :• find out that water can exist in three states• investigate the effect of heat gain or loss on the

state of water and communicate findings• find out how water cycle works• use the concept of water cycle in a real life

situation• devise a way to get fresh water when lost in a

forest

Time Activity

20 min Tuning-in:

Get pupils to jog around the basket ball court three times. Then bring them back to class.

Do not allow the pupils to drink water then ask how do they feel when deprived of water and decide if water is important for their survival.

#1: To feel the importance of water in our life

Time Activity

25 min Development:

Present the problem to the class. Show a YouTube video of how Taman Negara is like to bring in the context for the given scenario.

Then get pupils into groups of four to brainstorm on the questions to do a K-W-L strategy to take inventory of what they already know (K) and what they want to know (W) about water. The L part will be filled in as pupils gain new knowledge from their learning experiences.

Water Cycle – P5Problem : (big idea - How are cycles important to life?) Imagine you went hiking in Taman Negara (M’sia) and

unknowingly you took the wrong route. You spent hours finding your way out but you got exhausted. Before you know it you have run out of drinking water. Your throat is feeling parched and you need to get water to quench your thirst. There is no known available water source and you do not hear the sound of running water close by. In a survival situation, you can last up to three days without water, but by the end of the second day you're not going to be in very good shape. You have to find water before then.

What can you do to get fresh drinking water in the forest?

In your back pack

These are the items you have :• a plastic bag which contain your sandwich• an empty plastic water bottle (500ml)• a torchlight• mosquito repellent• a face towel• a map of Taman Negara• a compass• a poncho

Time Activity

20 min Closure:

Pupils share their group discussions with the rest of the classmates. Teacher will facilitate the discussion and highlight salient points.

Check with the pupils how they can find out answers to the questions which they would like to know and make a list of the sources of information they can rely on.

Time Activity

10 min Tuning-in:

Begin by drawing attention to the glass of water. Ask questions such as:

What is in this glass?

What is water? What does it look or feel like?

Is water a solid, a liquid, or a gas?

Where can you find water? Where does it come from?

Guide the class in establishing that water is a liquid that both falls from the sky in the form of rain and can be found in abundance in oceans, lakes, streams, and underground.

#2: To find out that water can exist in three states, how water cycle works and investigate the effect of heat gain or loss on the state of water and communicate findings

Time Activity

10 min Next, pick up the dish with the ice cube and show it to the class. Ask questions such as these:

What is in this dish?

Describe ice. What does it look or feel like?

Is ice a solid, a liquid, or a gas?

What is ice made of? How is it made?

If I left the ice in the room for a few hours, what would happen to it?

Help the class to see that ice is water that has been frozen into a solid because it has been exposed to very low temperatures. Make sure they understand that when ice is allowed to warm up, it returns to liquid water.

Time Activity

10 min Next, present the dish with the wet paper towel, asking questions like these:

What is this?

What would happen if I left it out for a few hours?

Why would it dry out?

Besides paper towels, what are some other examples of wet things that dry out over time? (Examples could include wet clothes, watered plants, glasses of water, and puddles.)

What if I put this wet paper towel outside during the winter? What might happen to it? Why?

At this point, students should understand that when water is exposed to warm temperatures, it disappears or evaporates, becoming a gas, while under colder conditions it can freeze into ice, becoming a solid. It is important to emphasize that the three water samples they've seen represent the three states, or forms, that water takes on as temperature and other conditions change.

Time Activity

10 min Development:

Using their Water Cycle student E-Sheets, students should visit Round & Round It Goes! The Water Cycle to learn more about how the water cycle works. Students will be directed to click on and read each process of the water cycle as shown on the graphic—starting with precipitation and ending with water vapor—and answer questions and take notes using their Round and Round It Goes! student sheets. When finished, discuss with them what they have learned and be sure to emphasize key benchmark concepts involving both the transformative (liquid/solid/gas) and the continuous, cyclical aspects of the global water cycle process.

Time Activity

15 min Next, divide the class into groups, depending on the availability of your resources. To better apply and reinforce what they have learned, have each group complete the hands-on activity on the Model Water Cycle student sheet. Each group will be asked to create a model of a water cycle in class. Among other things, they will be able to observe how water condenses and then precipitates.

Once the models are completed and the changes within them start taking place, include in your discussion questions such as these:

Describe what is happening in your miniature water cycle.

What effect is the sun having on your water cycle? The shade?

What caused the water to evaporate in the mug or "ocean"?

Where did the water go?

How can you explain what is taking place on the plastic wrap?

How can you explain the dripping that is taking place?

Explain the processes involved in the water cycle that took place inside your models.

Time Activity

5 min Closure:

Pupils refer to their K-W-L worksheet and fill in the L column.

Time Activity

15 min Tuning-in:

Review the concept of water cycle by conducting a simple science experiment so that students have a visual reference for the water-cycle concept. Use a hot plate or other source to heat water, small pot, ice, water, two pie tins or similar, cookie sheet and two tall glass or metal vases at least 2 inches in diameter at the top.

Place water in a small pot on the hot plate in a place where all students can see. Place the vases on either side of the hot plate and sit the cookie sheet on top of the two vases so that it spans over the water pot. Fill the pie tin with ice and place it on the cookie sheet over the pot of water. Heat the water to boiling and watch as water condenses on the bottom of the cookie sheet and begins to rain back down.

#3: To use the concept of water cycle in a real life situation and devise a way to get fresh water when lost in a forest

Time Activity

20 min Development:

Students gather into their group and to devise a way to get fresh water when lost in a forest. Students will then present their strategy using MS Powerpoint.

Teacher will walk around to monitor and facilitate the groups.

Time Activity

20 min Closure:

Students make a presentation of their strategy.

5 min Pupils refer to their K-W-L worksheet and fill in the L column.