Graphic organizer Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics
Four Ancient Ways to Move and Store Water
A grade 6 compare-and-contrast organizer on qanats, Roman aqueducts, Indian stepwells, and Petra's cisterns, with a clue bank to sort and a completed exemplar.
Objectives
- Students will sort evidence about four ancient water systems into a comparison table.
- Students will distinguish systems that move water from a distance from systems that store water where it falls.
- Students will explain how the land and climate of a region shaped its water technology.
Vocabulary
- Cistern
- A large tank that stores rainwater collected from a roof so it can be used later, usually for watering plants.
Also: qanat, aqueduct, stepwell, gravity, monsoon
Teacher overview
Long before pumps and treatment plants, people in dry and seasonal climates built water systems that still work today, and the design of each one follows from the landscape around it. This organizer is a four-row comparison frame covering the qanat of Iran and other dry regions, the Roman aqueduct, the stepwell of western India, and the rock-cut channels and cisterns of Petra. Students sort a bank of sixteen clues into the frame, then answer two synthesis prompts about which systems move water and which store it. The misconception worth naming is that ancient people simply lived near rivers; each of these four systems exists because a river alone could not supply the people who lived there, or no river reached them at all.
Organizer
Sort every clue from the bank into the correct cell of the table. Each clue belongs in exactly one cell. Then answer the two prompts below the table.
| Water system and region | Where the water came from | How the water moved or was stored | What the land or climate made necessary | What it made possible for the settlement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qanat (Iran and other dry regions) | ||||
| Aqueduct (cities of the Roman Empire) | ||||
| Stepwell (western India) | ||||
| Channels and cisterns (Petra, in present-day Jordan) |
Clue bank:
- A. Springs and streams in the hills above the city.
- B. Groundwater in the gravel at the foot of the mountains.
- C. Groundwater plus rain stored from the monsoon months.
- D. Springs and the rare, heavy rainstorms of the desert.
- E. A gently sloping tunnel carried the water downhill, with vertical shafts dug down to it for air and for hauling out soil.
- F. Channels ran mostly underground and crossed valleys on arched bridges, with the water flowing downhill the whole way.
- G. Stone steps descended level by level to the water, so people could walk down to it as the water dropped.
- H. Channels cut into rock, with small dams, caught the runoff and led it into sealed tanks carved in stone.
- I. In a hot, dry climate an open canal loses much of its water to the air, so the channel had to run underground.
- J. The city outgrew its own river and wells, and the clean springs lay in higher ground some distance away.
- K. Nearly all of the year's rain falls in a few months, and the water level drops steadily through the dry season.
- L. Rain came seldom and violently, and the flash floods would otherwise have rushed out of the canyons and been lost.
- M. Villages and irrigated fields could exist far from any river.
- N. Public fountains and baths could run all day, and officials were appointed to manage the supply.
- O. A town had water through the whole dry season, and had a cool, shaded place where people gathered.
- P. A trading city with a large population could survive inside a desert canyon.
Prompts:
- Which two of these systems mainly move water from a distant source, and which two mainly store water where it falls?
- Choose one of the four systems. Explain how the shape of the land around it decided the design.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Water system and region | Where the water came from | How the water moved or was stored | What the land or climate made necessary | What it made possible for the settlement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qanat (Iran and other dry regions) | B. Groundwater in the gravel at the foot of the mountains | E. A gently sloping tunnel carried the water downhill, with vertical shafts for air and for hauling out soil | I. In a hot, dry climate an open canal loses much of its water to the air, so the channel ran underground | M. Villages and irrigated fields could exist far from any river |
| Aqueduct (cities of the Roman Empire) | A. Springs and streams in the hills above the city | F. Channels ran mostly underground and crossed valleys on arched bridges, flowing downhill the whole way | J. The city outgrew its own river and wells, and the clean springs lay in higher ground some distance away | N. Public fountains and baths could run all day, and officials were appointed to manage the supply |
| Stepwell (western India) | C. Groundwater plus rain stored from the monsoon months | G. Stone steps descended level by level to the water, so people could walk down as the water dropped | K. Nearly all of the year's rain falls in a few months, and the level drops through the dry season | O. A town had water through the whole dry season, and had a cool, shaded place where people gathered |
| Channels and cisterns (Petra, in present-day Jordan) | D. Springs and the rare, heavy rainstorms of the desert | H. Channels cut into rock, with small dams, caught the runoff and led it into sealed tanks carved in stone | L. Rain came seldom and violently, and flash floods would otherwise have rushed out of the canyons and been lost | P. A trading city with a large population could survive inside a desert canyon |
Prompt answers:
- Answer: The qanat and the Roman aqueduct move water from a distant source, while the stepwell and Petra's channels and cisterns store water where it falls. The first two both run downhill by gravity from a source outside the settlement, and the second two both hold water from rain that arrives at only a few times of year.
- Answer: Answers vary by system. A strong answer for the aqueduct notes that the springs sat higher than the city, so the whole system could run on gravity, and that the arched bridges exist only because valleys interrupted an otherwise steady downhill slope. A strong answer for the stepwell notes that the water level itself moves up and down through the year, so the steps had to reach far below the wet-season level.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students the first row of the table already completed, so the qanat serves as a worked model for the other three. Cut the clue bank into strips and have students place the strips physically before writing anything, and reduce the task to the first three columns. Provide a map showing Iran, Italy, western India, and Jordan so the regions are more than names.
Extension
Have students add a fifth row for a modern system their own community uses, such as a reservoir and pipeline, a well field, or a stormwater basin, and fill in the same four columns for it. They then write a short paragraph naming which of the four ancient systems it most resembles and what problem both were built to solve.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "tunnel," "channel," "store," "gravity," and "dry season" with simple side-view drawings of each system beside a slope. Provide the clue bank with the key nouns underlined, and allow students to write only the clue letters in the table rather than copying full sentences. Offer the sentence frame "The ___ was built because the land there was ___."
Extensions
Ask students to find one ancient or historic water structure in or near their own state, such as an early canal, a mill dam, a spring house, or a covered reservoir, using a state historical society or park service page. Students can complete the same four columns for it and present the row to the class with the source named.