In this activity, students act as water molecules and travel through parts of the water cycle (ocean, atmosphere, clouds, glaciers, snow, rivers, lakes, ground, aquifer). Students use a diagram of the hydrologic cycle to draw the pathway they traveled. Activity takes about 1 class period.

This lesson is an instructor demonstration that focuses specifically on two aspects of the water cycle: evaporation and condensation. This is a well described instructor led demonstration for introducing and exploring the water cycle. This activity takes approximately 1 hour 35 minutes, but can be broken into separate lessons. Additional…

Using real data from NASA's GRACE satellites, students will track water mass changes in the U.S., data that measures changes in ice, surface and especially groundwater. The background information includes an animated video about where water exists and how it moves around Earth, as well as short video clips to introduce the GRACE mission and…

In this lesson, students will learn about the water cycle and how energy from the sun and the force of gravity drive this cycle. This learning activity takes at least two 45 minute class periods.

This NASA video provides a nice overview of Earth's water cycle from the perspective of looking at Earth from space. Video length is 5:52 min.

This is a short NASA video on the water cycle. The video shows the importance of the water cycle to nearly every natural process on Earth and illustrates how tightly coupled the water cycle is to climate. Video length: 6:31

This classroom demonstration illustrates the amount of water stored in various parts of the Earth system in a straightforward manner. Students estimate the proportions of water in the oceans, icecaps and glaciers, groundwater, freshwater lakes, inland seas, soil moisture, atmosphere, and rivers. Then they fill beakers with the actual proportion…

This activity was developed to give participants an understanding of Earth's water cycle by completing a WebQuest and building a model of the water cycle. This activity takes 1 hour.

This visualization, from the US Geological Survey, provides a simple schematic of the various pathways that water can take as it cycles through ocean, lakes, atmosphere, surface and ground.

Using US Drought Monitor data and its classification system, this interactive tool tracks drought in the continental US by county, from 2000 to the present.

Through this set of lessons, students learn about the impacts of water shortages due to drought, make connections to climate patterns, and explore community resiliency solutions. The lessons engage students in evaluating solutions for a particular case study community. Students will need to do additional research on solutions, but by the end of…

This video takes viewers high into the Rocky Mountain snowpack, where researchers dig snow pits to explore the source of Colorado's water supply. Highlights the importance of snowpack on the supply of fresh water available in western and southwestern states. Snowmelt dynamics are discussed, including the impact of a warming climate. Video length…

An interactive data visualization map of the USGS data of water usage from 2015 of the USA and US territories.

Use pH strips to test the pH of substances in your home and in your environment. Use your pH strips for an art project and learn how the ancient basketmakers weaved baskets.