Last updated: July 7, 2020
Math Skill: Percentages
Science Skill: Earth Water
Environmental Area: Water
Area level: Global-scale
Purpose: Understand scarcity of our freshwater resources and develop awareness of water quality
BACKGROUND FOR THE TEACHER
You may think there is a lot of water available for us to use on Earth because more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. However,almost all of the Earth’s water is classified as saltwater in the oceans that cannot be consumed by humans. Freshwater accounts for only 2.5% of the Earth’s water.
As the Ohio River is the major source of fresh water in Southwest Indiana, river water is a very valuable water resource to us. Rivers are particularly precious because the total volume of rivers equals only one millionth of the total volume of Earth’s water.
Ohio River and disrupted water cycle
TEACHER GUIDE
The purpose of this activity is to practice solving percent problems while giving your students an idea of thepreciousness of the water that we daily consume. This activity was created based on data obtained from U.S. Geological Survey.
Worksheet & answer key
Math Skill: Percentages
Using the distribution of freshwater on Earth, in which ice, groundwater, and surface water make up 69%, 30%, and 1%, respectively, students are asked to color the portion of ice yellow, groundwater brown, and surface freshwater red on a grid of 100 boxes.
SIMILAR PROBLEM
Math Skill: Percentages
Using the percentage of saltwater and freshwater on Earth, rounded to 97% and 3%, respectively, students are asked to color the portion of salt water green and the portion of freshwater blue on a grid of 100 boxes. Students are then asked to write their opinions based on the grid they just colored.
