Global Water Cycle Board Game

I used this in an intermediate-level hydrology lab course with ~25 students. I think that it could be used as-is for an introductory course that includes a hydrology unit. It could potentially be adapted for higher or lower level students by altering the trivia questions, or adding an additional activity to build on the knowledge they gain through the game.

Students should be familiar with the magnitude of reservoirs and fluxes of the global water cycle, as well as residence time of each reservoir, though this could also serve as an introduction to that content.

The activity served as the first lab activity in my hydrology course. It was meant to be a fun introduction to the big themes of the course, which included the processes by which water moves through the earth system, as well as creative and public-facing science communication. The game was one part of a larger lab focused on the water cycle.
The game took ~30 minutes, though there was variability based on luck and group size.

Students will be able to:
Discuss the relative residence time of various hydrologic reservoirs of Earth
Articulate the processes that move water between reservoirs
Evaluate the utility of models as an abstraction of reality

The questions ask students to reflect on the experience, comparing the simplified version of the water cycle in the game to reality. They are also asked what is missing from the game.
The board game was one part of the lab activity, and the other sections asked them to engage more critically with data for watersheds in the United States. The questions related to the board game could be expanded upon to engage higher order thinking, or the activity could be paired with other activities, as I did.

I used this activity as the first lab activity in my class, with an explicit goal to help students meet other people in the class and work together in groups.

Nearly all materials needed are provided below. These include the board itself, instructions for how to play, and trivia questions referred to as Hydrology Headscratchers. I am also including the slides I used in class before the game as well as the broader lab assignment that includes the game.

To play, students should be divided into groups of 3-5. Each student needs a game piece of some kind (I used a combination of actual board game pieces and random trinkets from my office).

Game board that accompanies the game.
Game board (Acrobat (PDF) 190kB Nov4 25)

Rules that explain how to play the game, as well as the questions that I used as part of the lab assignment. 
Board game rules and questions (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 26kB Nov4 25)

Cards containing trivia questions, referred to as Hydrology Headscratchers in the instructions. These are intentionally a mix of general knowledge and very specific questions.  
Water cycle cards (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 49kB Nov4 25)

Slides that I used in class prior to the game, provided for context.
Water cycle slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 10.8MB Nov4 25)

Larger lab assignment that the game was embedded in, provided for context. 
Lab instructions (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 22kB Nov4 25)

There are three questions included as part of the assignment, and I circulated during the activity to ensure that students were actively participating.
The larger lab assignment includes a more robust assessment of the bigger goals.