LessonGrades 4 - 6
Water Resources: Why Do We Build Dams?
Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential benefits, which include water supply, electricity generation, flood control, recreation and irrigation. This lesson begins an ongoing classroom scenario in which student engineering teams working for the Splash Engineering firm design dams for a fictitious client, Thirsty County.
The Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.Copyright US Bureau of Reclamation http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/images/D001a.jpg
Human-made dams are important in our modern life. Civil engineers and city planners compare the benefits, cost and environmental impacts to determine whether a community could benefit from a dam.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Interpret and evaluate data to formulate conclusions.
- Understand the needs for and impacts of dams and reservoirs.
- Describe how the use of technology provides essentials and luxuries for everyday living.