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Earth’s Freshwater

Provided by: Gaia Scholastic |Published on: May 12, 2026

Lesson Plans

Synopsis

This hands-on lesson uses a simple laboratory model and a pie chart to guide students in understanding how rare usable freshwater is on Earth.
Students draw pie charts to represent the distribution of all the water on Earth.

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Subjects: Science, Mathematics

Authors: Rachel Arbor

Region: Global, Colorado

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

This hands-on activity will help students visualize Earth's water and understand issues related to water scarcity.
Students will benefit from the mathematical connections in this resource.

Prerequisites

The lesson plan suggests opening the lesson by checking on previously created water cycle in a bag experiments. Teachers can skip this part or precede the lesson with a related experiment.
This activity requires students to measure in mL using graduated cylinders and be familiar with pie charts and calculating percentages.
Each student group will need 2 1000mL beakers, 3 50mL beakers, 1 1000 mL graduated cylinder, 1 25 mL graduated cylinder, 1 small cup of salt, 10 drops of blue food coloring, 2 pipettes, 2 spoons, and 4 Index cards.
The discussion questions at the end of the lesson reference Colorado, but teachers can adjust these questions to fit their local context.

Differentiation & Implementation

Depending on students' independence, students can work in groups, or the teacher can lead the activity by modeling the steps at the front of the class.
To make connections to climate change, teachers can explain that, as the climate warms, the atmosphere can hold even more water, locking this away for longer until it comes back as precipitation. This podcast episode can help explain the connection.
This lesson also includes optional extension activities for language arts, civics, and career exploration.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

Gaia Scholastic

Gaia Scholastic's mission is to cultivate a generation of environmentally-literate global citizens by integrating nature and environmental concepts into the learning experiences of students of all ages and abilities. Gaia Scholastic supports educational organizations in weaving standards-driven, interdisciplinary Environmental Education into their work through curated curriculum, Professional Development, and with community events in which students take civic action.

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Earth’s Freshwater

Synopsis

Teaching Materials

About the Partner Provider

Related Teaching Resources