Monday 8 December 2008

Groundwater investigation

The new Earthlearningidea is about groundwater 'From rain to spring: water from the ground'. The activity demonstrates how water flows through the ground and how it can be used and how it can be polluted. All you need for this innovative idea is a plastic container, some plastic cups, some washed sand, a spoon and some 'waste'.
The model demonstrates how groundwater flows and forms aquifers (permeable rocks containing underground water supplies). In the model, the upper part with the cups represents the 'hills'; water poured into the cups represents 'rain'; the water emerges from the 'ground' in a 'spring'. The 'spring' is usually found at the lower end of the container, where the downward flowing water reaches the impermeable edge of the container and flows upwards to the 'ground surface' - as in many natural springs formed where flowing water meets an impermeable barrier.
Your pupils will enjoy this easy-to-set-up activity; please let us have your comments - click on 'comments' below.

1 comment:

Mary from New Mexico said...

I modified my stream table to do this activity. In the future I think I will use the cardboard box with plastic in the 'River in a gutter' activity. I would like to layer the media with a porous sand and then an impermeable layer so there is less water showing on the surface and it flows to 'springs' further from the source.