Grade 10 Lesson plan
Sizing Sattersley's Constructed Treatment Wetland
A 60-minute grade 10 lesson where students size a constructed wetland that strips nitrogen from treated wastewater, using loading rate and detention time.
Common Core Math · High School
HSG-MG.A.3 Apply geometric methods to design problems
Apply geometric methods to solve design problems (e.g., designing an object or structure to satisfy physical constraints or minimize cost).
Why water teaches this standard well
Students design a rainwater cistern shape that meets a required storage volume while minimizing the material needed to build it, balancing a physical constraint against a cost goal. This design-under-constraint problem mirrors real decisions engineers make when specifying tank geometry.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
39 materials aligned to HSG-MG.A.3
Lesson plans
Grade 10 Lesson plan
Verwood Treatment Plant Infographic: A Grade 10 Scale-Design Lesson
A grade 10 art lesson where students design a scale infographic of a fictional water treatment plant, building the layout as a ratio drawing with labeled call-outs.
Grade 11 Lesson plan
Ardenmoor Well Hydrographs: A Small-Multiples Design Lesson
Grade 11 students lay out six monitoring-well hydrographs as a small-multiples panel grid, sizing panels and setting one shared depth axis.
Grade 11 Lesson plan
Millbrook Boil-Water Notice: Typographic Hierarchy
Grade 11 students set a boil-water notice for a fictional water district, sizing headline and body type and testing the column measure against the page.
Grade 11 Lesson plan
Stonecross Rainfall Bands: A Woven Data Lesson
Grade 11 students encode a year of fictional rainfall as stripe widths on a woven band, choosing a scale that fits a fixed warp length.
Grade 12 Lesson plan
Water Age in the Quintrell Ridge Tank: A Turnover Lesson
A grade 12 lesson where students compute water age in a fictional storage tank from volume and daily throughput, then weigh storage size against disinfectant residual.
Grade 11 Lesson plan
Wrenfield Development Runoff: Rational Method Design Lesson
A grade 11 lesson using the rational method to compare pre- and post-development peak runoff for a fictional site and design green infrastructure to a limit.
Grade 10 Lesson plan
Thornwood Commons Rain Garden: Sizing Green Infrastructure
A 55-minute grade 10 lesson where students use the rational method to find a parking lot's peak runoff, then size a rain garden to hold the first inch of storm runoff.
Worksheets
Grade 12 Worksheet
Carrowmoor Canal Danger Sign: Pictograms, Panels, and Letter Size
Grade 12 students design a bilingual danger sign for a fictional irrigation canal, choosing signal word, pictogram, and type treatment and sizing letters for distance.
Grade 12 Worksheet
Nashmere High School Cistern Sizing and Payback Worksheet
A grade 12 worksheet sizing a rainwater cistern for a fictional school roof, from design-storm runoff and first flush to tank depth and simple payback.
Grade 11 Worksheet
Havenlock Water Tower Elevation: A Scale Drawing Sheet
Grade 11 students size a dimensioned elevation of a fictional water tower, choose a scale that fits the sheet, and set the drawing's text and scale bar.
Grade 9 Worksheet
Culverstone Main Replacement: Sizing a Thrust Block
A grade 9 worksheet on a fictional water main replacement where students find the thrust at a bend under test pressure and size the concrete block that resists it.
Grade 10 Worksheet
Marloch Commerce Park: Stormwater Runoff and Detention Design
A grade 10 worksheet using the rational method and rectangular-volume geometry to size a detention basin for a fictional town's commerce park development.
Grade 10 Worksheet
Wolvercote Park-and-Ride Lot: Sizing an Infiltration Trench
A grade 10 worksheet where students size a gravel infiltration trench for a fictional parking lot using runoff volume, void space, and a 72-hour drawdown limit.
Grade 11 Worksheet
Brenhollow's Center Pivots: Circles, Acre-Feet, and Pump Hours
A grade 11 worksheet on a fictional farm district's quarter-mile center pivot, moving from circle area to acre-feet, gallons, pump hours, and an aquifer cap.
Grade 10 Worksheet
Cobre Vista's New Water Tank: Cylinder vs. Sphere Design Worksheet
A grade 10 geometry worksheet where students model cylindrical and spherical elevated-tank designs for a fictional town, comparing volume and surface-area efficiency.
Math problem sets
Grade 12 Math problem set
Netherstowe Stormwater District: Rational Method Technician Math
Grade 12 problem set applying the rational method, area-weighted runoff coefficients, and pipe capacity to a fictional stormwater district facing new development.
Grade 12 Math problem set
Grayling Ford Filter Backwash: Rates, Volumes, and Tank Sizing
A grade 12 problem set on filter operations at a fictional plant: loading rates with a filter offline, backwash flow and volume, rise rate, and sizing a wash-water tank.
Grade 9 Math problem set
Cravenshaw Meadows Detention Basin: Storage and Release
A grade 9 problem set applying the rational method to a fictional subdivision, then testing whether the detention basin fits the site under a depth limit.
Grade 10 Math problem set
Vireo Landing Filtration Plant: Sizing Basins and Filters
A grade 10 engineering math set that sizes a fictional plant's sedimentation basin and filters, checking detention time and filter loading against standard design ranges.
Grade 11 Math problem set
Ashcombe Plant Expansion: Filter Loading Rate and Area Design
Grade 11 students convert a fictional plant's flow to gallons per minute and design a filter's minimum surface area that satisfies its loading-rate constraint.
Classroom activities
Grade 10 Classroom activity
Hobbleton Ridge Percolation Stations: Sizing a Drainfield
A grade 10 station rotation sizing a soil absorption field for a fictional rural school, from a percolation test through trench layout, reserve area, and tank volume.
Grade 10 Classroom activity
Pikehaven Valve Isolation Drill: Shutting Down a Main Break
Grade 10 teams work a fictional distribution loop, choose the valves that isolate a broken main, and calculate the customers and gallons taken out of service.
Grade 12 Classroom activity
Pinderloe GAC Contactor Sizing Relay for PFAS Removal
Grade 12 teams pass one spec sheet through four desks, size carbon vessels for a fictional plant, find the contact time falls short, and redesign the bed depth.
Grade 11 Classroom activity
Brackenhill Filter Section: A Scale Drawing Relay
Teams of four build a large cross-section of a fictional plant's sand filter on butcher paper, adding one layer per round at a single stated scale.
Grade 11 Classroom activity
Ravensford Reclamation Tour: Wayfinding Sign Stations
Four rotating stations in which grade 11 students size signs, draw pictograms, and scale a route map for a fictional reclaimed water plant's public tour.
Grade 9 Classroom activity
Designing a Pennock Landmark Water Tower: Grade 9 Silhouette Charrette
Grade 9 teams run a fast design charrette to shape a landmark water tower silhouette that still meets storage and pressure constraints.
Projects
Grade 10 Project
Quillback Creek Rainwater Cistern: A Grade 10 Design Project
Grade 10 teams size a rainwater cistern for a school garden, priced by tank surface area, to store 4,000 gallons on a 12-foot pad for $6,000 or less.
Grade 10 Project
Duncannon Elevated Tank: A Storage and Pressure Design Project
A four-session grade 10 project where teams size an elevated tank for a fictional town to meet storage, pressure-range and budget limits at low cost.
Grade 10 Project
Fernbrook High Rainwater Cistern: A Sizing Design Project
Grade 10 teams size a 3,000-gallon rainwater cistern for a fictional school, pricing the tank by its surface area to meet a $5,000 budget and a 12-foot pad.
Grade 12 Project
Faircastle Reclamation Plant Fence Screen: A Public Art Proposal
Grade 12 teams answer a fictional city's call for a perforated metal fence artwork at a wastewater plant, with site study, test tiles, a budget, and a panel pitch.
Grade 11 Project
Thistlecomb Road Culvert: A Fish Passage and Flood Design
A six-session grade 11 project in which teams size a stream crossing that passes the design storm, restores trout passage, and fits a fixed budget and closure window.
Grade 11 Project
Ashgrove Water Museum: A Three-Panel Exhibit Design
Over four sessions, grade 11 teams design three exhibit panels for a fictional town water museum, working to fixed panel sizes, type minimums, and a print allowance.
Grade 10 Project
Hollowdale Farm Irrigation Water Budget Design Project
A grade 10 project where teams design a season's irrigation plan for a fictional 40-acre field, comparing flood and drip efficiency to fit a water and equipment budget.
Grade 12 Project
Ravelston Field Cistern: A Rainwater Harvesting Design Proposal
A four-session grade 12 project sizing a cistern for a fictional school field, using a budget inequality and cylinder geometry under height and footprint limits.
Quizzes & test questions
Grade 10 Quiz & test questions
Wrackley Stormwater Inspector: Runoff, Basins, and Outfalls
A grade 10 careers quiz on the municipal stormwater inspector role, covering the rational method, detention basin sizing, roof runoff, and illicit discharge response.
Grade 10 Quiz & test questions
Kilnbury Water Main Thrust Blocks: A Grade 10 Design Test
A grade 10 engineering unit test on thrust restraint: students find the force at a capped end and at a bend, then size the concrete block that holds the fitting.
Grade 11 Quiz & test questions
Harkin Row Campus Stormwater Retrofit: Design Assessment
A grade 11 engineering assessment on a campus stormwater retrofit, covering impervious area, runoff volume, bioretention storage, drawdown time, and cost per gallon.
Grade 12 Quiz & test questions
Grebe Point Lift Station: Wet Well and Force Main Test
A grade 12 quiz on a fictional lift station mixing multiple-choice and computation: wet well volume, fill and pump-down times, cycle time, and force main velocity.