Lesson plan Grade 6 Science

Vellmont's New Well: Measuring Drawdown as You Pump

A 50-minute grade 6 lesson on groundwater where students measure well drawdown from static and pumping water levels and reason about the limits of a shared aquifer.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Science
Material: Lesson plan
Time: 50 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: Clear cup or tall jar, Drinking straw, Wet sand or aquarium gravel, Large needle-free syringe or turkey baster, Printed student handout, Mini whiteboards and markers, Index cards

Standards

MS-ESS3-1 NGSS

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

How this material aligns: The handout and closing discussion have students use drawdown as evidence that groundwater is a limited resource whose level falls as humans pump it, matching this standard's explanation goal.

All materials for MS-ESS3-1 →

6.RP.A.3 Common Core Math

Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations, including finding a percent of a quantity and converting measurement units.

How this material aligns: Handout questions 3 and 4 use the pump's steady gallons-per-minute rate to find gallons pumped in a given time and the time needed to pump a given amount.

All materials for 6.RP.A.3 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will calculate well drawdown as the difference between the pumping and static water levels.
Students will use a steady pump rate to find gallons pumped over time and time to pump an amount.
Students will explain why a large drawdown can be a sign that a well is pumped harder than the aquifer refills.

Vocabulary

Aquifer: An aquifer is an underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel that holds water in the tiny spaces between its grains. Wells reach down into aquifers to bring water up to the surface.
Drawdown: Drawdown is how far the water level in a well drops when a pump pulls water out. The harder and longer you pump, the bigger the drawdown gets.

Also: static water level, pumping water level

Teacher overview

An aquifer is an underground layer of rock and sand that holds water, and a well is a pipe drilled down into it. When the pump is off, the water in the well sits at the static water level. When the pump runs, the water level in the well drops to the pumping water level, and the distance it drops is the drawdown. This lesson uses the fictional town of Vellmont's new well to teach drawdown as a simple subtraction and to connect it to a real idea: pump too fast, and the drawdown grows because the aquifer cannot refill quickly enough. A common misconception this lesson corrects is that a well holds an endless supply; the drawdown makes the limit visible.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Fill a clear cup with wet sand or aquarium gravel and add water until it sits just below the top of the sand. Push a straw into the sand against the side of the cup as the well. Draw water up through the straw with a large needle-free syringe or a turkey baster, first slowly, then quickly. No one drinks from the cup. Point out that fast pumping lowers the water near the straw faster than the sand can refill it. Tell students a well works in a similar way, and today they will measure how far the water drops.

Direct instruction (12 min): Define static water level, pumping water level, and drawdown using a labeled sketch on the board. Model one worked example from a fictional well: static level 20 feet below ground, pumping level 33 feet below ground, so drawdown is 33 minus 20, which is 13 feet. Stress that this teacher example is for modeling only and is not on the handout.

Guided practice (13 min): Work a second example as a class. A well has a static level of 28 feet and a pumping level of 46 feet. Have students find the drawdown (18 feet) on whiteboards and hold them up. Then show a pump moving 50 gallons per minute and ask, as a group, how many gallons it moves in 10 minutes (500 gallons).

Independent practice (15 min): Students complete the Student Handout on their own. Circulate and check that they subtract the static level from the pumping level in the correct order.

Closure and exit ticket (5 min): On an index card, students answer: "A well has a static level of 22 feet and a pumping level of 40 feet. What is the drawdown?" Collect the cards. If fewer than 80 percent answer 18 feet, reteach the subtraction before the next class.

Vellmont's New Well: Measuring Drawdown as You Pump — Grade 6 Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Vellmont drilled a fictional new well into an aquifer. All depths are measured in feet below the ground. Suppose the pump moves a steady 45 gallons per minute. Answer each question and show your work.

The static water level is 25 feet below ground. When the pump runs, the pumping water level drops to 41 feet below ground. What is the drawdown?
A second Vellmont well has a static level of 30 feet and a drawdown of 12 feet. How deep below ground is its pumping water level?
The pump moves 45 gallons per minute. How many gallons does it move in 20 minutes?
At 45 gallons per minute, how long will it take the pump to move 2,700 gallons?
To protect the well, the pumping water level must stay above 60 feet below ground. If the static level is 25 feet, what is the largest drawdown allowed before the water level reaches that depth?
Explain why a drawdown that keeps getting larger over the years can be a warning sign that the well is being pumped harder than the aquifer can refill.

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

Answer Key

Answer: 16 feet.
Drawdown is pumping level minus static level: 41 − 25 = 16 feet.
Answer: 42 feet.
Pumping level is static level plus drawdown: 30 + 12 = 42 feet below ground.
Answer: 900 gallons.
45 gallons per minute times 20 minutes equals 900 gallons.
Answer: 60 minutes.
2,700 gallons divided by 45 gallons per minute equals 60 minutes.
Answer: 35 feet.
The pumping level can reach 60 feet and the static level is 25 feet, so the largest drawdown is 60 − 25 = 35 feet.
Answer: Answers will vary. Accept clear reasoning that a growing drawdown means the water level is dropping more each year, which suggests water is being removed faster than rain and streams can refill the aquifer, so the supply is being used up.

Differentiation

Support

Give students a labeled diagram of a well with the static and pumping levels already drawn, and let them mark the drawdown as the gap between the two lines before they compute it. Provide a calculator for questions 3 and 4.

Extension

Ask students to make a small table showing the drawdown for pump rates of 30, 45, and 60 gallons per minute if faster pumping adds 4 feet of drawdown for each extra 15 gallons per minute, starting from a 16-foot drawdown at 45 gallons per minute. Have them describe the pattern.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "static," "pumping," and "drawdown" by acting them out with the straw-and-cup model while pointing to a labeled picture. Provide sentence starters for question 6, such as "A bigger drawdown may mean that ___."

Extensions

If your area uses well water, invite a local well driller or water district staff member to share, by letter or a short visit, how deep local wells are and how they watch water levels over time. Students can compare that information with the Vellmont example.