Clean Enough to Drink: Making Devices to Filter Dirty Water
Students act as engineers contracted by NASA to create water filtration devices that clean visible particulates from teacher-prepared "dirty water." They learn about the worldwide need for potable water and gain appreciation for why water quality is an important issue for people on Earth as well as on the International Space Station. Working in groups, students experience the entire engineering design process, including a read-aloud book about the water cycle; a visiting water engineer presentation; their own online research about filter methods and designs; group brainstorming of designs (using ordinary household materials); filter construction and testing; redesign and retesting; lab book documentation of their notes, research, plans and results; and a summary poster presentation at a mini-engineering fair. Two design planning worksheets, a poster layout suggestion sheet and a grading rubric are provided.
Copyright U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www2.epa.gov/learn-issues/learn-about-water
Environmental, chemical and civil engineers must fully understand the science and math pertaining to water quality, contaminants and filtration materials in order to design filtration systems capable of providing potable water to the masses. Like engineers, students work in teams to brainstorm, research and problem solve as they design, test and revise filtration systems to clean visible particulates from contaminated water.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Use teamwork to solve a problem.
- Research, design and build a prototype water filtration device.
- Describe the need to conserve and protect water sources.
- Explain a problem and a solution to others.