In this video segment adapted from the College of Menominee Nation, learn about the emergence of invasive forest species and diseases and their possible impact on the Menominee tribal forest.

Students are asked to explain how clouds participate in the water cycle. [0:32]

This article highlights hands-on and inquiry-based science lessons that teach about the water cycle and provides lessons that integrate literacy skills with the science investigations.

This article describes ways to supplement a science unit on the water cycle with the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker. Ideas for art, writing, poetry, and creative movement are included.

Students use a thermal process approach to design, build and test a small-scale desalination plant that is capable of significantly removing the salt content from a saltwater solution. Students use a saltwater circuit to test the efficiency of their model desalination plant and learn how the water cycle is the basis for the thermal processes that drive their desalination plant.

In this issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, explore what the polar regions can teach us about the water cycle and the states and changes of matter. Find lesson plans about the many forms of water, ice, and snow found in the polar regions and how to use science notebooks to integrate literacy and science.

This article assembles free resources from the Water, Ice, and Snow issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

This article highlights children's literature about states of matter, phase changes, the water cycle, and glaciers and icebergs for use in the elementary classroom.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, visit a water treatment plant and learn how water from a local reservoir is turned into drinking water.

This simulation from the National Center for Atmospheric Research portrays annual patterns in water vapor and precipitation across the globe, illustrating general circulation patterns as well as seasonal and regional variation.

This simulation from the National Center for Atmospheric Research portrays annual patterns in water vapor and precipitation across the globe, illustrating general circulation patterns as well as seasonal and regional variation. [4:52]

Students learn about floods, discovering that different types of floods occur from different water sources, but primarily from heavy rainfall. While floods occur naturally and have benefits such as creating fertile farmland, students learn that with the increase in human population in flood-prone areas, floods are become increasingly problematic. Both natural and manmade factors contribute to floods. Students learn what makes floods dangerous and what engineers design to predict, control and survive floods.

Students learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different types of dams, all designed to resist the forces on dams. (If the free, 15-minute "Water and Dams in Today's World" video cannot be obtained in time, the lesson can still be taught. See the Additional Multimedia Support section for how to obtain the DVD or VHS videotape, or a PowerPoint presentation with similar content [also attached].)

Students learn about the water cycle and its key components. First, they learn about the concept of a watershed and why it is important in the context of engineering hydrology. Then they learn how we can use the theory of conservation of mass to estimate the amount of water that enters a watershed (precipitation, groundwater flowing in) and exits a watershed (evaporation, runoff, groundwater out). Finally, students learn about runoff and how we visualize runoff in the form of hydrographs.

Students build a model of a watershed, apply water to the model, and explore what happens when elements of the watershed are changed.

In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.

Students will test the percolation rates of 6 different soil samples. Three of the samples are measured sand and clay and three are collected from the schoolyard and wetland.

Abby teaches all about the different states of water, as well as the water cycle. [2:03]

Students deepen their knowledge of the impact that climate change and rising water levels can have on the Great Lakes. The focus here is to connect melting glaciers and sea level rise to the volume of water in the Great Lakes.

Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation. Once a dam is constructed, its reservoir becomes a part of the region's natural hydrologic cycle by receiving precipitation, storing runoff water and evaporating water. Although almost impossible to see, and not as familiar to most people as precipitation, evaporation plays a critical role in the hydrologic cycle, and is especially of interest to engineers designing new dams and reservoirs, such as those that Splash Engineering is designing for Thirsty County.