Rainwater Harvesting Service Learning Project

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This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process.

This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

• Scientific Accuracy
• Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
• Pedagogic Effectiveness
• Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
• Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

This page first made public: Mar 29, 2010

Summary

Students will gain an understanding of the history, benefits, and components of a rainwater harvesting system and partner with community members to design and build a rainwater harvesting system for their school.

Context

Audience

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Goals

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Description of the activity/assignment

Determining whether students have met the goals

Project rubric, click to enlarge. Also available in a Word file: Rubric for Rainwater Harvesting Service Learning Project (Microsoft Word 29kB Feb8 10)

Students will complete research assignments, form community partnerships, and design a rainwater harvesting system for their campus. The ultimate goal is to construct a rainwater harvesting system on their school campus. A rubric for this project is attached Rubric for Rainwater Harvesting Service Learning Project (Microsoft Word 29kB Feb8 10)

Download teaching materials and tips

• Activity Description/Assignment:

  • Read Texas Manual on Rainwater Harvesting (Acrobat (PDF) 1.9MB Feb9 10)
    

  • Explore TWDB's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
    

  • Complete the Rainwater Harvesting Web Quest (Microsoft Word 2.4MB Feb9 10) and you will gain an understanding of the history, benefits,and components of a rainwater harvesting system and learn how to start building your own system.
    

  • Explore the reports for the winners of the Rain Catcher Award
    

  • Propose a RWH design for your school and present to community partners
    

  • Build a RWH system on your campus
    

  • Celebrate your accomplishment and recognize community partners
    

• Instructors Notes:

  In this SL project as in all RWH systems, for RWH to succeed you need the following;

  • Design and build a system that is suitable to local conditions and your needs.
  • Students and community partners must have a genuine interest in conservation and recycling.
  • Be able to do minor repairs and properly maintain the system

  For an overview of Rainwater Harvesting, please review this power point presentation (PowerPoint 5.9MB Feb9 10) and consider sharing it with your project team.
  

  For assistance in designing and implementing service learning exercises or courses, the SERC 8 Block approach is a valuable resource.
  

• Case Studies/Examples from the Texas Rain Catcher Award

  • Hunt School Project (Microsoft Word 27kB Feb9 10) - Hunt, Texas
    

Other Materials

Supporting references/URLs