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Classroom activity Grade 3 Science

Sparrow Hill's Water-Saving Sort: A Grade 3 Design-Criteria Relay

A grade 3 relay game where teams sort water-related action cards by two design criteria to decide which ones a kid could realistically use to save water.

Objectives

  1. Students will sort water-related actions according to two given design criteria.
  2. Students will explain why a helpful-sounding action might still fail a stated criterion.
  3. Students will name at least three water-saving actions they could realistically do themselves.

Vocabulary

Key words: criteria, constraint, conserve, design problem

Teacher overview

This is a relay game for teams of four or five students, played at the fictional Sparrow Hill Elementary, where every team races one runner at a time to sort a stack of water-related action cards. Students place each card in a bin based on whether it meets two stated design criteria, which are the same kind of criteria an engineer uses to judge whether a proposed solution is worth building.

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, print and cut one set of the 14 action cards below per team (or copy the list onto index cards). Set up a relay lane for each team: a start line, a table partway down the lane holding that team's shuffled card stack, and the two labeled bins at the far end.
  2. Gather the class and read the two criteria aloud, posting them where everyone can see: Criterion 1, "A kid can do it without needing money or an adult's help." Criterion 2, "It actually saves a noticeable amount of water." Explain that a card only belongs in the "Meets Our Criteria" bin if it satisfies both.
  3. Divide the class into teams of four or five students and line each team up at its lane's start line.
  4. On "go," the first student in each line runs to the card table, picks up the top card, reads it (or has it read aloud), decides which bin it belongs in based on the two criteria, places it in that bin, and runs back to tag the next teammate.
  5. Play continues, one card and one runner at a time, until a team has sorted all 14 of its cards into the two bins.
  6. When the first team finishes, call time for every lane so each team completes its current card, then check every team's bins together as a class, discussing any cards that different teams placed in different bins and why.
  7. Close with the debrief questions listed in the Student Handout section below.

The 14 action cards.

Cards that meet both criteria: turn off the tap while brushing your teeth; take a shorter shower, a few minutes less than usual; tell an adult right away if you notice a dripping faucet, so it can be fixed; use a cup of water to rinse your toothbrush instead of running the tap; turn off the water while soaping up your hands, then turn it back on to rinse; point out to your family when a hose is left running with no one using it; remind your family to run the dishwasher only when it is full.

Cards that fail at least one criterion: buy a brand-new water-saving showerhead for the whole house; let the hose run all afternoon to fill a small pool; wash the family car every single day; take a very long bath every night instead of a shower; leave the sprinkler running on the lawn overnight; hire a plumber to fix every faucet in the house; water the garden in the middle of a hot, sunny afternoon.

Sparrow Hill's Water-Saving Sort: A Grade 3 Design-Criteria Relay — Grade 3 Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Debrief questions.

  1. Choose one card from your Meets Our Criteria bin. Explain how it meets both criteria.
  2. Which criterion does "buy a brand-new water-saving showerhead" fail? Tell why.
  3. Does "tell an adult right away if you notice a dripping faucet" meet both criteria? Tell why.
  4. Why does "water the garden in the middle of a hot, sunny afternoon" fail?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Answers vary; accept any card correctly matched to both criteria with a reasonable explanation. Example: "Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth meets both criteria because any kid can do it for free, and it can save water every single day it's practiced."
  2. Answer: "Buy a brand-new water-saving showerhead" fails Criterion 1. Buying and installing a new showerhead costs money and needs an adult, so a kid cannot do it alone for free.
  3. Answer: "Tell an adult about a dripping faucet" meets both criteria. It costs nothing and any kid can do it. It also gets a leak fixed. The EPA says a faucet dripping once every second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water in a single year, which is a noticeable amount.
  4. Answer: Watering the garden in the hot afternoon sun fails Criterion 2. Much of the water evaporates in the heat before it can soak into the soil, so even though watering sounds helpful, that timing wastes water instead of saving it.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Reduce the card set to 8 cards instead of 14, choosing the clearest examples of each type, and read each card aloud to the runner rather than requiring independent reading. Post the two criteria with a simple icon next to each (a coin with a line through it for "no cost," a water drop for "saves water").

Extension (above grade level)

Have advanced teams write one new action card of their own after the relay, test it against the class using a show of thumbs for "meets" or "doesn't meet," and explain their reasoning to the group.

ELL supports

Pair the two criteria with simple pictures (a coin crossed out, a water drop) posted above each bin, and allow students to point to the correct bin instead of explaining their choice aloud during the relay itself, saving verbal explanation for the debrief when there is more time.

Extensions

Ask students to keep a simple tally at home for one day of every "meets our criteria" action they actually did, then report back the next day on which action was easiest to remember.