The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Canal Building - Connecting the Past to the Present

Canal Building - Connecting the Past to the Present

A 3rd Grade STEM Lesson

Deliah Cottle

June 2023

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Notes for Teachers

�Context: This lesson can take place in a classroom or STEM club.

• Students may work in small groups of 4-6.
• An emphasis on creating a connection between canals and destination.
• Facilitate student reflection on cause and effects if humans on their environment.
• Facilitate student discussion on how humans through Arizona History have used canals to shape how we live.

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List of Materials

• Sand
• Plastic Saran Wrapping
• River Rocks
• Scissors
• Plastic bin (Shallow 26 QT bins)
• Optional: Miniature Animals, humans, technology or plants (i.e. diorama trees)

Standards

NGSS Engineering Standards

3-5-ETS1-1.

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

Physical Science Core Idea:

3.U.2: The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to solve problems and/or create products.

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Science and Engineering Practices:

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• Understand Systems and System Models
• Identify Cause and Effect Relationships

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ELA Standards:

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3.RI.3: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

Social Studies:

3.3.G2.1 Explain how people modify and adapt to the Arizona environment. • Key concepts include but are not limited to modification and adaptation of the environment by Paleo-Indians, Prehistoric-Indians, explorers, settlers, farmers, immigrants, migrants, and the 22 Arizona Indian Nations, and the use of Arizona’s natural resources.

Objective(s):

Reconstruct a canal system that is able to carry water from one end of the bin to the other.

Identify how humans in Arizona have used water in the past and present to help us live (i.e. agriculture, transportation, carrying goods).

Agenda

60 minutes: Class Activity

10 min: Intro �- The Simple Genius Of American Waterways�- The Erie Canal

10 min: past vs present canals (See Slide 7)

10 min: The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (See slide 8)

25 min: Construct the canal

5 min: Exit ticket (assessment) and Closing Comments

Canals

Past:�

Present:

Map of Casa Grande Canals

Intro/Driving Question/Opening

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�How are canals used to change the way we live?

How are canals used in Arizona? Why is it important to be able to control the flow of water here in Arizona?

When you build your canal, what are some reasons that you may want the water to flow from point A to point B.

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

• Split the students into groups of four.
• Divide the materials (Sand, Cups of water, Saran wrap).
• Have students build the canal within the sand.
• Students will test their canal flow with water.
• Students will add the miniatures to model the purpose of the flow of water (i.e. to water plants or animals down the stream).

Assessment: Exit Slip

�Exit Ticket Virtual Background Jamboard.pdf

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Differentiation

• Pair students with academic challenges with students without.
• Model inclusive language (sentence starters..)

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Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

• Students who need an academic challenge should complete a research project on the historical importance of ONE of the following canals…

Suez Canal� Erie Canal � The Salt River Canal.