Exploration: Then and Now – Follow the Water Lesson

This lesson will help your students answer questions about water’s location and importance to life.
In this lesson, students will
– Observe and describe osmosis.
– Compare the porosity and permeability of several soil samples.
– Observe a soil’s water-holding capacity.
– Make observations about the availability and location of water on Earth, the moon and Mars.
– Model water dissolving materials as it travels through soil samples.
– Design an investigation to determine how varying amounts of salt in water affect seed germination.
– Identify the salinity of unknown solutions based upon observation.
– Compare the differences in challenges faced by 17th-century and 21st-century explorers.
Follow the Water Lesson [612KB PDF file]
The educational module Exploration: Then and Now examines four themes and compares exploration of the past and present. The module focuses on the settlement of Jamestown, the first permanent English-speaking colony in the New World, and NASA’s plans to return to the moon and reach for Mars. Each lesson consists of several student activities.
Also in this series:
Survival!
Transportation
Settlement
Human Needs