Rainwater Harvesting Service Learning Project

Linda Ruiz McCall and Cameron Turner

Texas Water Development Board

This activity has been reviewed by 2 review processes (view details)

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 https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
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.

Initial Publication Date: March 29, 2010 | Reviewed: October 22, 2012 (see revision history: 2 events)

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.

Meteorology, Water Management and Policy, Water Conservation | Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Introductory, College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16), Informal

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Context

Audience

Students may range from middle school through adult level.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students must be able to make measurements and calculate area, volume and rates.

How the activity is situated in the course

This project may be a part of the "Putting some Blue in your Green School" water conservation project or it may be a stand alone service learning project.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Students will learn about rainfall patterns.
Students will learn the relationship between catchment area and rainwater volume collected.
Student will learn about water use for various purposes and decide the use for their collected rainwater.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Students will design and build a rainwater collection system. This will involve analysis of rainfall data, decision on the water use for their collected rainwater, and competing designs for the rainwater collection system.

Other skills goals for this activity

Students will use the internet for research, they will recruit community support through writing and making presentations, and they will design and assist in the construction of a rainwater harvesting system on their school campus.

Description of the activity/assignment

In this service learning project, students, teachers and community members will work together to design and construct a rainwater harvesting system for their school campus.

Research RWH design basics and local conditions
Explore how RWH could be used on your campus and develop a basic design.
Present findings and action plan to community partners, school administration and student body.
Enact the action plan to construct a RWH system on your campus and raise community awareness for water conservation

Determining whether students have met the goals

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)

More information about assessment tools and techniques.

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 (Acrobat (PDF) 722kB Sep23 14) 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

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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