Week 1: Water, Water, Water
Our 2018 bESTology journey will shower you with information about water, and recycling, and get you ready for this year’s BEST robotics competition. So take a deep breath as we dive deep into the wonderful world of CURRENT EVENTS 2018!
Note: Each week of bESTology contains hints of the upcoming game CURRENT EVENTS. Happy searching!
Let’s Begin…
Do you ever wonder where the water you drink or the water you use to brush your teeth comes from? Do you ever think how much water it takes to fill a swimming pool or water our yards?
I think we take it for granted that when we open a faucet water will come out, or that when we come home from school we can take a nice warm shower. However, it is not like this all over the world. There are countries in Africa, where people living in small villages need to walk many miles just to fill up a few containers to bring back to their village. They must walk to the river just to wash their clothes or wash themselves. They have to boil the water they drink before they can drink it because it has so many contaminants in it. Some of these people have never had a glass of cold water, or water from a bottle.
Resources:
WATER our most precious resource
Reflect:
Over the past 24 hours you have used water. Create a list of all the water you have used and try to estimate the amount in gallons that you used. Then think about how you could have saved some of this water and maybe not wasted so much.
As we navigate through CURRENT EVENTS, generate a chart and list words associated with the topics over the next several weeks. Be sure to add new words to your list each week.
Writing:
Cape Town, South Africa is having a terrible drought. All their water reserves are running out. Cape Town is a modern city, just like any city in the United States. But they have no water. The city is located on the ocean. Write a story where you either live in a city like Cape Town, or a village in Africa that has no water, or a water shortage and imagine what your daily life would be like.
BEST Connection:
BEST robotics has always created their projects around real world problems. Find a real world water problem besides the ones listed above and discuss this with your group.
Community Connection:
Go to your local city’s website or other local website and research where the water source for your city comes from. Get a map of your city and draw where the water comes from and where it goes to after it is used. Write down if there are any water restrictions for your area. Find out how much water your household or even your neighborhood uses. You will find this on a utility bill.
Bloom’s Taxonomy: add, create, explore, evaluate, generate, include, identify, list, observe, reflect, review, subdivide, use, and write
Workforce Skills: critical thinking, materials evaluation, reading comprehension, science, writing
My Personal Journal