__________Water Wisdom_________

Summary of Program at Brisbane Elementary, CA

In February 2003, Bob Abaya’s fifth grade class at Brisbane Elementary learned about water conservation by using Water Wisdom – a curriculum unit developed by Tamar Hurwitz and provided by the Arthur and Elena Court Nature Watch Conservancy.

Water Wisdom was created to teach students the importance of water conservation and what they can do to save this natural resource. Because there already existed many units on water science, Water Wisdom aimed to act as a stand-alone conservation unit, as well as a supplement to a more comprehensive, in depth water science unit. To that end, we recommended that Water Wisdom be used in conjunction with A Child’s Place in the Environment Unit 4 (ACPE), which is a comprehensive California standards based curriculum on water.

We provided Bob Abaya (principal and teacher at Brisbane Elementary) with the Water Wisdom unit as well as a copy of ACPE. He chose to test Water Wisdom with his students by using it alone. He also supplemented the unit with some videos of his own choosing. Overall, Mr. Abaya thought the lesson plans were very interesting and said his students loved the activities and would have liked more. He also said in a post unit interview he initiated with his students showed their awareness of water conservation ”grew immensely.”

Here are some comments Mr. Abaya offered as feedback for Water Wisdom.

Highlights

• He liked that writing and drawing were big parts of the activities.

• Water Wisdom had “some great learning experiences.”

• Students loved the “Wet your appetite” lesson that taught how food choices affect water use.

• Students also loved the “Magic Carpet Ride” that used guided imagery to provide insight into the role water plays in various ecosystems, including that of San Bruno Mountain.

Excerpts from Student Evaluations

What was your favorite activity? Explain.

“My favorite activity was the one where we guess how many gallons of water it took to make certain foods. I liked this one because it was fun and challenging”

-Vito

“My favorite activity was when we had to act like pioneers and try to use 2 gallons of water wisely. I liked it because we had to guess how much to use.”

- Mike

“My favorite activity was when we did the Magic Carpet Ride because it really feels like you are that person riding the carpet.”

-Olivia

“My favorite activity in this unit was when we did the math problems to find the secret message. It was fun.”

-Holly

What are 2 or 3 things you learned from this unit?

“One thing I learned from this unit is how much water it takes to make/cook/grow things in our daily lives and how valuable water really is.”

-Dionne

“Some of the things I learned is how much water people use in a day and another thing I learned is how to save water around the house and everywhere else.”

- Aijah

“The two thing I learned was number one: That our Earth doesn’t have as much drinking water as I thought. Number two: That drinking water is very precious and to be careful not to waste it.”

-Thomas

“1. You shouldn’t waste water. 2. Don’t dump garbage or toxics in the oceans. 3. That it takes a lot of water to make one meal per person.”

- Jenny

“I learned that 1% of the water in the world is drinkable. Nothing can live without water. We have a limited supply of water.”

-Katie

‘One of the things I leaned was to keep water clean and the second thing I learned is that water is more valuable than gold.”

-Lawrence

To reach Tamar Hurwitz please e-mail her at tamar.hurwitz@sfgov.org