Summer SAVY Session 4, Day 5, Planning for the Future
Day 5: On our last day of Planning for the Future, students examined water conservation. We started off by conducting an audit of a fictional neighborhood’s water use and learned how various fixtures and appliances have become much more efficient over time. Then, we researched different strategies and tools for reducing water consumption and decided which strategies would provide the best benefit with a limited budget.
After lunch, we zoomed out from an individual scope of water conservation to a macro view and learned about other major uses of water like agriculture and livestock production. Focusing on the ongoing water shortage in the Western US, we looked at different strategies and policies being implemented to help manage water usage along the Colorado River. Finally, we briefly explored one spot that has a very limited supply of water, the International Space Station, a learned about the complex systems for recycling water out of everything (including the bathroom).
We had a fantastic week learning and growing as mathematicians and scientists, and we’re all sad to see it come to an end! I will leave you with a small collection of student work from this week including some of our planning work on Monday, the advocacy project on Wednesday, and oil spill experiments on Thursday and Friday.