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Is Our Water Safe? What Should We Do If Our Water Is Not Safe? Problem-Based Learning Lesson

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Grades: 7-12

Time: 4-10 hours

1. Put the students into groups of 3-5.

2. Provide the students with the "Not In My Backyard?" handout.

3. Have the students define the problem and determine what they know about the problem, what they need to learn more about, and where they need to look to find information.

4. Groups conduct research, find information, and work towards deciding what they should do. The teacher acts as a metacognitive coach, serving as a model. The teacher thinks aloud with students and practices behaviour they want their students to use. Students should become used to metacognitive questions such as "What is going on here?" "What do we need to know more about?" "What have we learned?" The teacher should encourage students to use questions and to take responsibility for the problem.

These are some possible disclosures to give the students as they work:

DISCLOSURE 1

It is a good idea to start by learning about the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Think about the word guidelines and its definition. Look at the information that is provided in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.

DISCLOSURE 2

How could you find our community’s drinking water quality test results?

DISCLOSURE 3

How could you compare our community’s drinking water quality test results to the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality?

DISCLOSURE 4

Consider whether some parameters in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality are more important than others. Consider the effects of those parameters not being within the guidelines.

DISCLOSURE 5

If our community’s water test results are within the guidelines, does that mean that everything is fine? Does anyone complain about issues related to water in our community? What about people outside of our community? Consider what you know about drinking water quality issues.

DISCLOSURE 6

Your group will present your discoveries to the class and propose what can be done about the drinking water quality situation in Canada.

5. Groups present their information, their potential solution(s) and support for their solution(s). The teacher completes the Example Rubric for Grading Problem-Based Learning Projects (or similar) to grade the students' work.

6. If desired, the students complete the Problem-Based Learning Teamwork Reflection Questions sheet and/or the questions are discussed in the groups or as a whole class.

Information for the Teacher

A map of the communities that currently have Drinking Water Advisories can be found here: https://www.watertoday.ca/

Investigate the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Note that some are guidelines for health reasons, while others are only aesthetic objectives. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/migration/hc-sc/ewh-semt/alt_formats/pdf/pubs/water-eau/sum_guide-res_recom/summary-table-EN-2020-02-11.pdf Note that there are many more components in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality than are tested in your community's drinking water.

Find your community’s water quality test results.

Note that in Canada we have guidelines, while in the United States they have regulations and in the European Union they have Standards.

Some points to consider:

  • If students conclude that their community's tap water is safe:

    • Is it safe for everyone? (For example, do some people have lead pipes?)

    • Is it affordable for everyone?

    • Does anyone find that there is an unpleasant taste/odour to the water? If so, what might be the cause?

    • Is the water in all of the nearby communities safe?

    • What risks are there to our water source? How can these risks be mitigated? What might happen to our tap water if our source water becomes polluted?

    • Is our tap water fluoridated? What risks/rewards are involved in water fluoridation?

    • Is everyone in Canada as lucky as we are? Which communities are not? What are some potential solutions for those communities' water issues?

  • If students conclude that their community's tap water is not safe:

    • What is causing our tap water to be unsafe?

    • What problems (health/others) might this cause?

    • Does everyone in our community know about the problem?

    • What can be done about the problem?

    • How can we raise awareness of the problem?

    • What should we do?

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