Activity Title:

Water Jeopardy

Description

In teams, students play a question/answer game based on the television game show, “Jeopardy.”  The game board supplies answers and the students must state the question.  Students compete for cups of water, which they accumulate in a vial.  The winner has the most water at the end of the game. 

Objectives

Students will:

• review or learn a variety of facts about water, especially local issues.

Grade Level

4th-adult

Materials Needed

• Game board large enough to be seen by everyone, with removable covers for the answers.  Suggested minimum size is 24”x36”, displayed on an easel.  Can also be created and played using PowerPoint.
• “Answer” sheet.
• A container of water with a sign on it, “Aquifer”.
• Two vials of water – one for each team to accumulate their share of the water.
• An empty container for the occasional removal of aquifer water by presenter.

Background Info

Most students do not realize how little fresh water exists on Earth or where their local drinking water comes from.  In this version, we emphasize the problems associated with a limited drinking water supply.  We also like to play A Drop in the Bucket prior to playing this game to emphasize the limited supply of fresh water on Earth.

Up to now, 100% of Albuquerque’s drinking water has come from an aquifer that is deep underground, and the water is brought to the surface through a system of over 90 groundwater wells.  The problem is that we have been pumping it out faster than it’s being replenished naturally.  In our area, it takes a long time for rain and river water to seep down and replenish the aquifer.  To make matters more difficult, we live in a high desert ecosystem where droughts are common, everyone wants and needs water, and the population keeps growing.

By Fall 2008, the Albuquerque area will begin to use surface water (the Rio Grande) to reduce our aquifer pumping so the aquifer can begin to recover on its own.  The aquifer will remain an important reserve to draw on during drought.

Procedure

Use already-created game or make one with categories of information along the top row and amounts of reward (cups of water), down the columns.  The game board is displayed on a wall or easel, or could be projected on a wall with a computer or overhead projector.

Divide students into two teams, each of which will represent a different community.  Each team/community must work together to come up with the questions for the answers on the board.  Ask each team to take two minutes to come up with a team name related to water, and a team sign (hand/arm motions) related to water. The symbol will be what they do to demonstrate that they are ready to respond.  Emphasize that they must confer with their teammates before responding.

Alternating between team/communities, ask a student to choose a category and an amount.  Reveal and read the answer from beneath the cover.  Recognize the team that has conferred and is demonstrating their sign.

If the team is correct, one member goes to the container of water marked “aquifer”, takes the cup and pours the amount of cups indicated on the cover into the vial for their community.  If the response is incorrect, the other team has a minute to attempt the correct response.  If they are correct, a member of the team will go put the amount of water in their vial.  If neither team responds correctly, tell and teach the question.

Randomly assign one of the questions to be Double Jeopardy.  If the team answers correctly, it receives double the cups of water.  If they answer incorrectly, it must return double the cups of water to the aquifer.

Occasionally remove a large amount of water from the aquifer completely, explaining that the water must go to farmers, drought, endangered species.  This means there is less water available for the communities to draw on.

Continue alternating between communities for choosing the category and amount until the board is completely revealed or time is out.  The team with the most water in their vial wins the game.

Evaluation/Extension

Research the topics that neither team answered correctly.

Provide a video or photos of some of the items or concepts from the game.  For example, show a diagram of a well and the groundwater below; a photo of a geyser; a bar chart with rainfall amounts in cities throughout the world.  This kind of data can be found by searching www.google.com .  For photos and drawings, choose the “Images” button.  Also refer to the U.S. Geological Survey’s website covering Water Science for Schools, http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/