Grade 6 Lesson plan
Choosing a Wet Well Size for the Wrayside Lift Station
Students size the working volume a fictional sewage lift station needs, then test three proposed wet wells against a pump-start rule and a width limit.
NGSS · Middle School (6–8)
MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions against criteria
Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Why water teaches this standard well
Scoring several water filter or rain-garden designs on a shared rubric of clarity, flow rate, and cost is the systematic evaluation this standard wants. It is the same decision matrix a utility uses to choose among treatment options, and it pairs directly with MS-ESS3-3 on a filtration challenge.
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.
69 materials aligned to MS-ETS1-2
Lesson plans
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Mossgrave Courts Greywater: Choosing an Irrigation Layout
A 50-minute grade 7 lesson matching laundry greywater supply to courtyard irrigation demand, then screening three layouts against a coverage target and a budget.
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Wickersall Salt Yard: Choosing a Runoff Containment Design
A 55-minute grade 7 lesson where students size storm runoff from a fictional road-salt pad, then pick among a full roof, a partial roof, and a catch basin.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Morley Cross Hard Water: Choosing How to Soften a Supply
A 50-minute grade 8 lesson where students weigh central lime softening, ion exchange, and household rebates against hardness, chloride, cost, and fairness criteria.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Roxby Weir's New Source: A Four-Role Design Review Panel
A 55-minute grade 8 lesson where students take four water-sector roles, judge three new-source options from their own criterion, and negotiate one recommendation.
Grade 6 Lesson plan
Aridell Fog Catcher Water Harvest Design Lesson
A grade 6 engineering lesson where students size and compare fog-catcher mesh designs for a dry village, using area and unit rates to predict daily water harvest.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Choosing PFAS Treatment for Tannery Springs: A Design Trade-Off Study
A grade 8 engineering lesson where students weigh three PFAS treatment options with a decision matrix, judging removal, cost, energy, and waste trade-offs.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Westmark Yard Truck Wash: Choosing a Water Recycling Loop
A 60-minute grade 8 lesson where students score three ways to stop a public works truck wash from draining to a creek, then check the winner against a budget limit.
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Quill Weir Fish Passage: Comparing Three Design Options
A grade 7 lesson in which students score three fish passage options at a fictional mill weir on percent of trout passing, cost per fish, and the town's water intake.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Brindley Crossing: Ultraviolet Dose Compared With Chlorine
A 55-minute grade 8 science lesson where students calculate ultraviolet dose from contact time and flow at a fictional plant, then compare it with chlorine.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Marston Bay Water Plant: Chlorine Dose and Filter Loading
A 45-minute grade 8 lesson where students find chlorine demand and filter loading rate at a fictional plant and read loading rate as a proportional relationship.
Grade 6 Lesson plan
Cutter Hollow Erosion Barrier Design and Sediment Test
Teams model a hillside in a tray, measure sediment reaching a downstream cup, then design and test a barrier that reduces erosion for the fictional town of Cutter Hollow.
Grade 6 Lesson plan
Millbrook Creek Household Filter Design Challenge
Teams define a clarity target and a 20-credit budget, then design, build, and test a three-layer household water filter for the fictional town of Millbrook Creek.
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Halloway Creek Filter Trials: Evaluating Three Prototype Water Filters
A 50-minute grade 7 lesson where student teams score three prototype filter designs on a weighted rubric and use the totals to choose the strongest design.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Ironbridge Community Garden's New Pump: A Break-Even Equation Lesson
A 45-minute grade 8 lesson writing and solving a linear equation to find the break-even operating hours between two irrigation pump options.
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Blackwood Springs: Tracking Chlorine Demand in Distribution
A grade 7 lesson calculating chlorine demand at two points in a fictional plant's distribution system, checked against the real federal maximum residual limit.
Grade 8 Lesson plan
Driftwood Marsh's Wastewater Choice: Treatment Plant or Wetland
A 50-minute grade 8 lesson where students calculate BOD removal efficiency for a treatment plant and a constructed wetland, then compare both to a real standard.
Worksheets
Grade 6 Worksheet
Choosing a Water Meter Size for the Pinkney Bakery
Students match a fictional bakery's lowest and highest water demands against three meter ranges and charges, then pick a meter and revisit it for a drip line.
Grade 7 Worksheet
Torrenhill Pump Station: Comparing Three Upgrade Options
A grade 7 worksheet that screens three pump station upgrades against capacity, lot size, downtime, and cost limits, then compares their weekly energy use.
Grade 8 Worksheet
Marlin Quay Storm Inlet Screens: Choosing a Bar Spacing
A grade 8 worksheet using five tested inlet screen designs: students model flow as a linear function of bar spacing, then pick the one design meeting all three criteria.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Amboti Village Handpump Well Drawdown Worksheet
A grade 6 engineering worksheet where students design a village handpump well, finding drawdown from water levels and pump output from unit rates and a rate table.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Otterkill Creek Trash Boom Capture Design Worksheet
A grade 6 engineering worksheet where students design a floating trash boom for a creek, using percent capture, a unit rate, and a ratio table to meet a litter goal.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Tarrowgate Vessing Creek Manhole Seal Retrofit Worksheet
Eleven items where students measure storm water leaking into a fictional sewer, size a manhole sealing project, and check whether the plant stays within capacity.
Grade 8 Worksheet
Verity Springs Pressure Zone: Elevation and House Pressure
A grade 8 worksheet where students compute house pressures from elevation differences, read 0.433 as the slope, and pick a fix for the house that falls short.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Elmridge Water Main Pipe Material Trade-off Worksheet
Ten items comparing three fictional pipe materials by total cost, cost per year of service, and a scored decision matrix for a water main replacement.
Grade 7 Worksheet
Foundry Row Water Main: Comparing Pipe Life-Cycle Costs
A grade 7 worksheet where students calculate cost per year of service for two pipe materials and use the results to recommend a water main replacement design.
Grade 8 Worksheet
Brackwater Bay's Desalination Pilot: A Scientific Notation Worksheet
A grade 8 worksheet using scientific notation to size a fictional desalination pilot, compare it to a real large plant, and test it against a capacity criterion.
Grade 8 Worksheet
Foxhollow School Rainwater Cistern: A Linear Function Worksheet
A grade 8 worksheet modeling a rainwater cistern's fill, hold, and drain phases as linear functions of time, interpreting the rate of change from each phase.
Grade 7 Worksheet
Sabine Bay's Desalination Pilot: Membrane Rejection and Flow Splits
A grade 7 worksheet on a fictional town's reverse osmosis pilot, calculating percent TDS removal, the permeate-reject flow split, and a gpm-to-gallons conversion.
Math problem sets
Grade 6 Math problem set
Hollisgate Farm Drip Line Emitter Spacing Problems
Ten problems where students divide a row length by two emitter spacings on a fictional pepper farm, then test each drip design against a permit and a crop rule.
Grade 6 Math problem set
Sedgewater Hatchery Aerator Selection Problems
Ten problems where students size an aerator set for a fictional trout hatchery raceway, then compare two models on purchase price, energy use, and years to pay back.
Grade 8 Math problem set
Ambersyke Meadow Pivot Nozzles: Comparing Two Application Rates
A grade 8 set where students read one nozzle package from a table and one from an equation, compare the unit rates as slopes, and pick the package that fits the pump.
Grade 6 Math problem set
Cape Vorne Desalination: Energy and Recovery Problems
A grade 6 math set comparing a fictional desalination plant's energy use with ordinary treatment, and finding the seawater and brine behind each batch of fresh water.
Grade 8 Math problem set
Dunmore Desalination Energy: Two Linear Functions Compared
A grade 8 science problem set where students model a fictional town's reverse-osmosis and conventional plant energy use as linear functions and compare the two slopes.
Grade 6 Math problem set
Pinebrook Garden Club Irrigation Pump Selection Problems
Eight problems where a fictional garden club compares two irrigation pumps' unit rates, solving one-step equations to find pumping time and check a time rule.
Grade 8 Math problem set
Two Treatment Plant Bids for Thistledown: A Systems of Equations Set
A grade 8 problem set where students write and solve a system of linear equations to compare two water treatment plant bids and test them against a cost criterion.
Grade 6 Math problem set
Copper Basin Treatment Plant: Filter Loading Rate Problems
A grade 6 math problem set where students calculate filter loading rates at a fictional treatment plant and compare them to the typical operating range.
Labs & experiments
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Choosing a Weir Notch Shape for Wilmot Brook
Students build three weir plates, read the water height at a slow and a fast flow, and pick the notch shape that meets a fictional gauge's three rules.
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Testing Three Pipe Bedding Materials for Oskett Lane
Students load a model pipe on soil, sand, and pea gravel, then measure settling, drainage, and soil movement to pick the bedding a fictional water main job needs.
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Hartsel Reservoir Evaporation Cover Design Lab
A grade 6 engineering lab where students build and test covers to slow evaporation from model reservoirs, then compare water loss to pick the best design.
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Does a Coagulant Help Sediment Settle? A Mabry Plant Test
A grade 6 science lab comparing muddy water with and without a coagulant, rating clarity over time to test a fictional plant's settling step.
Classroom activities
Grade 6 Classroom activity
Camp Marloch Constructed Wetland Design Activity
A grade 6 engineering station rotation where teams score competing constructed-wetland design options on a rubric, then combine the best features into one class design.
Grade 6 Classroom activity
Booster Pump Kinetic Sculpture Design Sprint for Rill Valley
A grade 6 design-sprint activity where teams sketch and score two paper kinetic-sculpture concepts that show how a booster pump lifts water to higher ground.
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Control-Room Icons: Designing Plant-Operator Symbols
A grade 8 art activity where teams design a set of control-room icons for a water plant, then evaluate competing icon sets against shared design criteria in a critique.
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Chalkmere Utility Design Review: Four Constraint Stations
A grade 7 station rotation where teams make one decision at each of four water-utility desks, then compare the constraints that pushed each role toward a choice.
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Verdant Vale Water Board: A Supply-Options Decision Matrix
Student teams role-play a fictional water board, scoring three competing supply designs on a shared decision matrix and defending one recommendation.
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Ottermill Bend Meter Test Bench: Modeling Three Meter Errors
A grade 8 station activity where teams pour known volumes through three rigged water meters, then write the linear function that describes each meter's error.
Grade 6 Classroom activity
The Bramwell Ridge Source Water Board: Forest or Filters
A 55-minute grade 6 activity in which teams score three source water plans for Bramwell against cost, habitat, storm reliability, and time to build.
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Pentworth's PFAS Stations: Bond Models and Carbon Filters
A four-station rotation where students build carbon-fluorine models, compare well results with the 4.0 ppt limit, and test activated carbon against sand.
Grade 6 Classroom activity
Cobble Hill Trade-off Draft: A Water Main Upgrade Game
A card-drafting game where teams build a 3-card water main upgrade package within a point budget and test it against a town council's three design criteria.
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Emberlynn Creek Silt Fence: A Design-Build Erosion Challenge
Grade 7 teams build a model silt fence, test it against a no-fence control with a measured water pour, then redesign and retest to reduce sediment reaching a model creek.
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Model Check Dam for Quarry Hollow: A Design-and-Test Activity
A grade 8 build-and-test activity where teams construct a model check dam, measure how much simulated stormwater it holds back, and iterate for a second trial.
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Rain Barrel Design Studio: Sizing and Decorating a Storm-Ready Cistern
A grade 8 design-studio activity where students size a cylindrical rain barrel using the real volume formula, then create and score original artwork for its exterior.
Debate kits
Grade 8 Debate kit
Kilnbrook's Purified Water Plan: Reuse for the Drinking Supply
A grade 8 science debate kit on whether a fictional inland city should purify its wastewater for drinking, with two-sided evidence and a four-level rubric.
Projects
Grade 6 Project
A Phased Water Plan for the Gossett Ridge Homes
Teams take three water-sector roles and design a two-phase plan for a fictional hillside neighborhood, since the grant pays for only part of the work they want to build.
Grade 7 Project
Millbrandt Drainage District: A Nutrient Interception Design
A five-session grade 7 project where teams screen four nitrate-cutting designs against land, budget, and drainage limits, then pitch one to a fictional drainage board.
Grade 7 Project
Varnholt Flats Brackish Wells: Designing an RO Pretreatment
A four-session grade 7 project where teams order and justify the treatment steps ahead of a fictional brackish-well membrane plant, then defend the train to the board.
Grade 8 Project
Stonebeck Creek Monitoring: Designing a Sampling Network
A three-session grade 8 project in which teams design, pilot, and defend a creek sampling network that can detect whether a street-sweeping program is working.
Grade 6 Project
Greywater Biofilter Design for the Fernwood Community Garden
A grade 6 engineering project where teams design a small layered biofilter to clean handwashing greywater for garden irrigation, within a fixed budget and footprint.
Quizzes & test questions
Grade 6 Quiz & test questions
Design Review of the Hearnside Dam Spillway Plan
A 20-point grade 6 review in which students check a fictional spillway plan against a flood rule and a freeboard rule, then evaluate a wider replacement design.
Grade 6 Quiz & test questions
Marne Water Plant Settling Basin Design Assessment
A grade 6 engineering assessment where students size a rectangular settling basin, find detention time and removal percent, and pick a design change to meet a goal.
Grade 7 Quiz & test questions
Delta Vale Stormwater Retrofit: Engineering Design Unit Test
A grade 7 engineering unit test on a fictional stormwater retrofit, mixing multiple-choice, short-answer, and computation items on runoff and percent reduction.
Grade 7 Quiz & test questions
Tallowmere Orchard Pond Liner: Grade 7 Engineering Design Test
A 32-point grade 7 test where students size a fictional irrigation pond, compute seepage saved by two liners, and compare their yearly costs before recommending one.
Grade 7 Quiz & test questions
Marlstone Treatment Pilot: A Grade 7 Engineering Unit Test
A 22-point grade 7 unit test with multiple-choice, short-answer, and computation items on design criteria, removal efficiency, and backwash waste.
Grade 8 Quiz & test questions
Amberlake's New Elevated Tank: A Grade 8 Volume and Cost Assessment
A grade 8 assessment on a fictional water authority's elevated tank, testing cylinder volume, scientific notation, and a systems-of-equations cost comparison.
Graphic organizers
Grade 6 Graphic organizer
Choosing a Disinfection Method for the Tinbury Wells
A grade 6 scoring matrix that rates chlorine tablets, a liquid feed pump, and an ultraviolet reactor against four rules for a fictional small water system.
Grade 7 Graphic organizer
Fernlow Lagoon Polishing Filter: Combining Test Results
A grade 7 organizer for reading three media-bed test results, naming the feature worth keeping from each, and stacking those features into one combined filter design.
Grade 7 Graphic organizer
Pentarrow PFAS Options: A Treatment Decision Matrix
A grade 7 organizer pairing a pass-or-fail constraint screen with a weighted scoring matrix for three PFAS treatment options at a fictional water district.
Grade 8 Graphic organizer
Durnsley's Lead Service Lines: A Three-Option Trade-Off Frame
A grade 8 trade-off matrix organizer for comparing full lead line replacement, corrosion control, and point-of-use filters against five stated criteria.