Lesson III: The Water Cycle

Introduction
It's true, the water we use today has been around for hundreds of millions of years, and the amount available probably hasn't changed very much. Water moves around the world, changes forms, is taken in by plants and animals, but never really disappears. It "travels" in a large, continuous cycle. We call this the Hydrologic Cycle ("hydro" means water). Many processes work together to keep Earth's water moving in a cycle. There are five processes at work in the hydrologic cycle: condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration. These occur simultaneously and, except for precipitation, continuously.

Objectives

• Students will demonstrate how the water or hydrologic cycle operates.
• Students will follow a drip through the water cycle.
• Students will demonstrate the processes of condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration through group presentations and experiments.
• Students will examine the water cycle from the perspective of a second grade science lesson.
• Students will develop related k-6 lesson plans.

1. Students will research the following NASA websites and describe findings related to the hydrologic cycle:
   • http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/07/gk2/water.html,
   • http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/followdrip.html,
   • http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclegraphic.html
   • http://www.zip.com.au/~elanora/rivers.html
   • Water Cycle -http://windows.arc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/tour_def/earth/Water/water_cycle.html
   • Water Cycle -http://windows.arc.nasa.gov/tour/link/=/earth/Water/water_cycle.html&edu=elem
   • Water Cycle -http://eob.gsfc.nasa.gov/Library/Water/water.html
   • Water Cycle -http://eob.gsfc.nasa/Library/Water/water_2.html
   • Water Cycle -http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/overview/watercycle.html
   • Understanding the Global Cycle (Research Overview) -http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/overview/watercycle.html
   • Water and Energy Cycle -http://www.earth.nasa.gov/science/Science_global.html
   
   
2. Students will develop and share related k-6 lesson plans.