6th-12th Grade Programs
We're excited to get back into your classrooms and out in the field this year. If you are still interested in virtual programs because of limitations on field trips or guest speakers, please make a note in your registration that you would like a virtual program. All of the programs below are offered in both virtual and in-person formats.
Classroom Groundwater Presentation
APW's classroom groundwater presentation uses systems thinking and the interactive Parflow groundwater flow models. Students are challenged to discover for themselves how the system works and why it matters to them. The 50-minute presentation is designed to construct new knowledge, deconstruct misconceptions, and teach about the local groundwater system.
Discovery Journey Sweetwater Wetlands & SHARP
Discovery Journey cultivates observational, measurement, language, and documentation skills in students as they participate in and learn about the urban water cycle. Students will receive information about making and recording observations and questions in their classroom, then use these skills at either Sweetwater Wetlands or SHARP, using paper and/or technology as a tool for documentation. By the end of the Discovery Journey, students will have a deeper understanding of the urban water cycle of Tucson, some of the ways in which humans impact their surrounding environment, and the impact of water on life.
Standards Covered by Discovery Journey
- 6.L2U3.11: Use evidence to construct an argument regarding the impact of human activities on the environment and how they positively and negatively affect the competition for energy and resources in ecosystems.
- 8.E1U3.8: Construct and support an argument about how human consumption of limited resources impacts the biosphere.
- Essential HS.E1U1.12: Develop and use models of the Earth that explains the role of energy and matter in Earth’s constantly changing internal and external systems (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere).
- Plus HS+E.E1U1.5: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information on the effect of water on Earth’s materials, surface processes, and groundwater systems.
- Essential HS.L2U3.18: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate about the positive and negative ethical, social, economic, and political implications of human activity on the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
- Plus HS+B.L4U1.2: Engage in argument from evidence that changes in environmental conditions or human interventions may change species diversity in an ecosystem.
Skills Cultivated during Discovery Journey
- Observation
- Measurement
- Descriptive Language
- Observational Drawing
- Documentation
Water Scene Investigations
The Water Scene Investigations (WSI) Program challenges people to become wise water users. By installing water-efficient devices like faucet aerators, hunting down and repairing leaks, and learning more about water-efficient appliances, Arizonans can save water and money. Our WSI teams, at home or at schools, investigate water use and put their learning into action to save water! We offer 3 unique school programs, listed below.