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Bottled or Tap?

Learning Experience 6

Big Ideas

The choice to drink tap or single use bottled water is ours to make, but consider that our choice impacts our lives, the lives of all other species, and our collective future.

Summary

Students will debate and evaluate the consumption of tap vs bottled water based on facts related to cost, taste, and environmental impact to the community, sharpening their literacy skills to craft their arguments.

Engage

We have set this activity up as a kind of blind taste test for bottle vs tap water .

Set up  three mystery samples of drinking water– Tap water from home, tap water from the school hydration station and purchased bottled water.  Use the SLIDE DECK to explain the activity and pose the questions. 

Ask students to fill out the first column of the Bottle Vs Tap Worksheet

Explore and Explain

Students will make predictions about the smell and taste of the samples.

Handout the Bottle v Tap Worksheet  for the next part of the activity– tasting, guessing and calculating cost. 

Calculate the consumer cost of bottled water.

Discuss any surprises and implications.

Elaborate

Discuss alternatives to bottled water by assigning articles or  videos from different sources and perspectives, reminding them to be critical as they read to note the source and what is opinion vs fact . Discuss possible biases. 

Some suggestions include:

CDC: Commercially Bottled Water
International Bottled Water Association: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water
NY Times: According to GAO: Fewer Regulations for Bottled Water Than Tap
Slate: You are Paying 300 Times More for Bottled Water than Tap Water 
ABC News: Bottled Water vs. Tap: Can you tell the difference?
Pacific Institute: Bottled Water and Energy Fact Sheet

( Feel free to find other sources or add to this list!).

At the end of this activity students can write a persuasive piece in order to convince others to choose bottled or tap water and they back up their argument with evidence they have collected from credible sources.

Extension

Investigate the impact of single use plastic water bottles in our environment , waterways, streets and all living things. You may wish to continue to explore plastics in general and microplastics in our environment. This could be turned into a more extensive MWEE that leads to a student action project.

Teacher Support

Essential Question:
What does it take for us to drink a glass of fresh, clean, delicious water?

Guiding Questions:

EngageBottled or Tap?
Can you predict whether you will be able to tell the difference?

Explore and Explain

How do the predictions compare with the results of the taste/smell test?
Were you able to identify which was which?
How can we calculate the cost of bottled water per person? Per family? Per day? Per month? Per year?

Elaborate

Should we buy bottled water?
Who should have access to bottled water?
What are the environmental and economic impacts of tap vs. bottled water?
What are the benefits and draw backs from each?
Who gains financially from the choices we make?
What are the unintended social consequences of our choices? Who pays the price?
What are we going to do about it?

Extension

Where do all the plastic water bottles go?
How many water bottles are sold locally, nationally, internationally?
What are the unintended consequences of having all those plastic water bottles on the loose?

Students will be able to:

Explore and Explain:

Collect statistics on the predictions. Graph, interpret and analyze the data.
Calculate the consumer cost of bottled water.
Calculate how much bottled water they drink over the course of a day.
Make calculations using the unit cost of bottles when purchased individually and by the case.
Calculate daily, weekly, monthly, and annual consumer cost of bottled water.

Elaborate:

Write a persuasive piece in order to convince others to choose bottled or tap water and they back up their argument with evidence they have collected from credible sources.

Explore and Explain

  • 3 “Blind Coded Cups” for each student
  • Tap water from home, tap water from school hydration station and purchased bottled Water
  • Paper, Pencil
  • Bottled Vs. Tap Water Data Sheet

 

Preparation: Out of sight of students, fill one colored (or coded) cup with bottled water and fill the other colored (or coded) cups with your two tap water samples (home and school)

Elaborate

CDC: Commercially Bottled Water
International Bottled Water Association: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water
NY Times: According to GAO: Fewer Regulations for Bottled Water Than Tap
Slate: You are Paying 300 Times More for Bottled Water than Tap Water
ABC News: Bottled Water vs. Tap: Can you tell the difference?
Pacific Institute: Bottled Water and Energy Fact Sheet

Unit 2 Slide Deck for Drinking Water and You

BASIC WORDS:
Environmental Sustainability noun
A state in which the demands placed on the environment can be met without reducing its capacity to allow all people to live well, now and in the future.

EPA noun
Environmental Protection Agency: Oversees safety of tap water.

FDA noun
Food and Drug Administration: Oversees safety of bottled water.

ADVANCED WORDS:
BPA noun
Industrial chemical used in polycarbonate types of hard plastic bottles. Questions about safety are associated with this chemical.

Profit noun
Financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing somethin

Collect statistics on the predictions. Graph, interpret and analyze the data. Calculate the consumer cost of bottled water.

Calculate how much bottled water they drink over the course of a day.

Make calculations using the unit cost of bottles when purchased individually and by the case.

Calculate daily, weekly, monthly, and annual consumer cost of bottled water.

Students write a persuasive piece in order to convince Philadelphians to buy either tap or bottled water. They must back up their argument with evidence.This piece can take the form of a persuasive essay, an editorial, an Op-Ed piece, or a letter to the editor. The writing should include information about Philadelphia Water Department’s water quality testing, cost, convenience and environmental impact. Finished pieces can be published in the school newspaper.

PA STEELS

Environmental Literacy and Sustainability
3.4.6-8.H Sustainability and Stewardship: Design a solution to an environmental issue in which individuals and societies can engage as stewards of the environment.

Student Materials

Student Worksheet

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