Grade 6 Lesson plan
Sable Ridge Water Tower Height and Stability Challenge
Teams design, build, and test a straw-and-tape model water tower across two rounds, meeting a height and load requirement for the fictional town of Sable Ridge.
NGSS · Middle School (6–8)
MS-ETS1-4 Model iterative testing to reach an optimal design
Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Why water teaches this standard well
Running a filter or model dam through repeated build-test-tweak cycles generates the data students use to converge on an optimal design. This iterative loop is the heart of the water filtration challenge, the most popular water engineering activity in middle school classrooms.
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20 materials aligned to MS-ETS1-4
Lesson plans
Grade 7 Lesson plan
Tamarisk Flats Berm Spillway: Iterative Erosion-Control Testing
A 55-minute grade 7 lesson where teams test a model berm spillway across three redesigns, recording freeboard changes to find the most flood-resistant version.
Math problem sets
Grade 6 Math problem set
Thistle Hollow Rain-Barrel Storage Design Math
Eight problems where students size a rectangular rain-storage tank for a fictional greenhouse roof, using the runoff formula, fractional volume, and percent capture.
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 7 Lab / experiment
Braycott Basin Baffles: Testing Three Layouts for Clearer Water
A grade 7 lab where teams test three baffle layouts in a model settling basin, then build a fourth that combines features from their best layout and a partner team's.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
Crayfen Ridge Pond Covers: Testing Three Evaporation Shields
A grade 8 lab in which teams run four-day evaporation trials on three cover designs, score each against stated criteria, and build a combined cover from the winners.
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Pellham Flats Well Screen Gravel Pack Design Lab
Students build three model well screens with different gravel pack depths, time how fast each drains, and measure how much sand each lets through before choosing one.
Grade 7 Lab / experiment
Ashford Mills Filter Trade-Off: Flow Rate Versus Clarity
Students build three filter designs, time how fast each runs, rate how clear the water is, and find the trade-off between speed and clarity.
Grade 7 Lab / experiment
Saltcrest Ridge Fog Catcher: Testing Mesh Panels for Water Capture
A grade 7 lab where students build three mesh panels, spray them under identical conditions, and use the collected volumes to design a better fog-catching panel.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
Ashen Ford Grit Channel: Testing Settling Speed to Set Length
A grade 8 lab where teams time sand, silt, and coffee grounds settling through three water depths, then use the speed to size a wastewater grit channel.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
A Tabletop Solar Still for Brinehaven: Measuring Desalination Yield
A grade 8 lab where students build a solar still, measure fresh water collected over time, and compute a collection rate and percent recovery from salt water.
Grade 6 Lab / experiment
Ridgeline Water Tower Model: Does Water Height Drive Flow?
A grade 6 lab where students uncover holes at three heights in a bottle, measure how far each stream shoots, and connect water height to pressure and flow.
Grade 8 Lab / experiment
Booster Pump Lift Height and Flow Rate: A Grade 8 Testing Lab
A grade 8 engineering lab where students test how lift height affects a hand pump's flow rate, then graph the results on a scatter plot and fit a trend line.
Classroom activities
Grade 8 Classroom activity
Cloverbank's Cloudy River: A Coagulation Jar-Test Design Challenge
A grade 8 engineering activity where teams design a coagulant recipe on a points budget, test it on muddy water, and iterate to reach the clearest cup.
Grade 7 Classroom activity
Keep Pinehaven Flowing: A Water Tower and Demand Simulation
A grade 7 role-play where students act as a town's water tower, pumps, and neighborhoods to keep the tank from running dry across a simulated 24-hour demand cycle.
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.
Projects
Grade 7 Project
Ravensgill Creek Shade Structures: Cooling a Trout Reach
A five-session grade 7 build-and-test project where teams design bank shade structures on a model reach, run three timed heat trials, and combine the best features.
Grade 8 Project
Tarnholt Lagoon Aeration: Model, Test, and Refine a Retrofit
A five-session grade 8 project where teams build tabletop lagoon models, test three air-delivery layouts for dead zones, and recommend a retrofit to a village board.
Graphic organizers
Grade 6 Graphic organizer
Refining a Silt Fence at the Rookhill Ridge Build Site
A grade 6 iteration log for a fictional construction site, tracking four silt fence trials against a clarity target and a standing target, with a completed exemplar.