Introduction
(10 min.)

• TP

Preparation

• Prepare/provide the following: Bucket/bowl of water, numbered pebbles/small stones (1- 28), large Peters world map, Post-It notes.
• Print out M2 (Water stories) and M3 (Exercise ‘A step ahead’).

Execution

• The teacher gives a short introduction to the topic of access to water/the human right to water.

Activity
(5 min.)

• TP

• The teacher places a bowl or bucket of water in the centre of the circle in which the pupils are sitting. As well as the water, the bowl or bucket contains pebbles/small stones labelled with the numbers 1 to 28. The teacher explains that whether people’s access to water is good or poor is a twist of fate – a lottery – and that the class is now going to recreate a ‘water lottery’, each drawing out a number corresponding to the story of a young person from another country. Each pupil takes a small stone out of the water. They then find the ‘water story’ that corresponds to the number on their stone. (These stories are in a pile next to the bowl or bucket).

Note

• It is important to explain that the ‘water stories’ are fictitious accounts created especially for this exercise. Their intent is to cover a range of water-related topics and exemplify possible real-life situations in various countries. Teachers should also emphasise that pupils should avoid reading these fictional stories as descriptions of how all people in the country in question live; people’s circumstances will vary.

Work phase
(10 min.)

• A

• All pupils now read silently through their ‘water story’, asking the teacher for help with anything they do not understand. Pupils write the names of the child/young person from their story on a Post-It note, find the young person’s home country on the world map and stick the Post-It on that country.

Group work
(15 min.)

• GW

• In groups of 3, pupils share information about their ‘water stories’, using the following points/questions as prompts (the teacher will have written these on the board):
  • Tell the other members of the group something about your young person.
  • Where does the young person come from? Who do they live with? Where do they get their drinking water and water for washing, brushing teeth, doing laundry, or cleaning?
  • Are there any notable similarities or differences among your stories? What are they?

Activity
(20 min.)

• A

• This activity requires a generous amount of physical space; teachers may choose to conduct it outside in the schoolyard.
  • Pupils line up alongside one another.
  • The teacher now reads out a list of statements about water (M3). Pupils take a step forward if the statement applies to the young person from their ‘water story’ (i.e. the young person would be able to respond to the statement with ‘yes’). If the statement does not apply to ‘their’ young person, the pupil stays where they are.
  • If the information needed to answer the question is not available from the story, pupils should make assumptions from what the story has told them about the young person, their circumstances and their community.

Reflection
(20 min.)

• D
• PO

• Questions the teacher can ask:
  • How many steps forward could you take? Could some of you briefly describe why you are standing where you are in comparison to the others? How do you feel about your position?
  • What are the reasons for injustice in access to clean, safe water? What threats are there to people’s water supply in your story (economic interests, climate change, pollution, etc.)?
  • If you made assumptions about your young person’s access to water, what images did you have in your mind? Where did these images come from? Would other assumptions have been possible?

• To visualize the reasons for unfair water distribution, you can create a mind map together.

Activity
(15 min.)

• A

Preparation

• Print out M4 for each group of 4.
• Print out M6 (pictures of foodstuffs and ‘bathtubs’ for every group; a different recipe and the list of ingredients for each group).

Execution

• How many baths? How much water is hidden in our food?
• Pupils get together in small groups of about four.
• Each group is given the same two sets of pictures: pictures of nine different foods and nine corresponding pictures with bathtub symbols to illustrate the amount of water needed to make them. How much water is needed to make each of these foods? Each group arranges the pictures in accordance with the amount of water they think is needed to make one kilogram of the food. They do this by placing the pictures in order, starting with the food that they consider uses the smallest amount of water and ending with the one they think needs the most water.
• Guided by the teacher, the groups compare their results with one another and adjust them if required, in accordance with the solution to the exercise in M3.

Input
(10 min.)

• TP

• The teacher gives a brief overview of what ‘virtual water’ means, covering:
  • green, blue and grey water
  • regional differences in water footprints
  • virtual water of plant products versus animal products
  • virtual water in other products

• The class may watch a video on ‘How much water do we use every day?’ (2:12).

Work phase
(20 min.)

• GW

• Calculating the water footprint of popular dishes:
  • Pupils now calculate the water footprint of some of their favourite meals. They again work in small groups. Each group is given a recipe for a dish and a table showing the virtual water consumption of the various ingredients. Now the groups have to work out the water footprint of their meal. They do this by converting the amount of virtual water per kilogram of each foodstuff included in the recipe to the amount of virtual water in the quantity of the foodstuff needed to make the dish. They then add up the virtual water in each ingredient to calculate the total water footprint of the dish (see M6 for solutions).

Presentation
(10 min.)

• PP

• Pupils share their results from the work phase with the class.

Reflection
(15 min.)

• D
• PO

• Pupils share and discuss the personal conclusions they have drawn from working out the water footprint of popular meals.
• Pupils collect ideas about how they could take action to reduce their own water footprint in their day-to-day lives (there are two aspects to this: 1. reducing virtual water consumption and thinking more carefully about virtual water in the products they use; 2. reducing their direct household water consumption).
• The teacher and pupils create a mind map for the topic on the board.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M7 (Leading Idea “Water is essential for life”) in order to stimulate students’ reflection connected to the exercise.

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Prepare a flip chart
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher hands out a copy of the exercise M8 to each pupil and introduces the subject asking students to consider each of the judgements contained in the exercise M8 and to think if they are referred to causes or to reasons. While the pupils are engaged in the work phase, the teacher writes the information about the activity contained in M8 on the flip chart to stimulate the following discussion.

Work phase
(10 min.)

• PO

• The students think individually about the judgements in M8 giving reasons for each of them.

Discussion
(40 min.)

• D

• The teacher stimulates the discussion among students about the judgments contained in M8. The judgments should create philosophical dialogue and the teacher as facilitator should ask for good reasons to facilitate critical thinking about the relations between the parts and the whole.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M7 (Leading idea “Water is essential for life”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs

Execution

• The teacher asks the students to interview their family members to investigate how they are committed to modifying behaviours related to wasting water M9.

Homework

• HW

• Each student interviews their family members on the basis of the indications contained in the activity M9.

Work phase
(20 min.)

• PP

• Students research for information about behaviours, attitudes, and activities regarding the subject of the interviews.

Discussion
(15 min.)

• D

• The teacher invites the pupils to discuss about what behaviours, attitudes and activities they implement to avoid wasting water.

Work phase
(15 min.)

• GW

• At the end of the discussion, the teacher invites the students to draw up a list of the best behaviours, attitudes and activities to implement to avoid wasting water.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M7 (Leading idea “Water is essential for life”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher distributes photocopies of the discussion plan M10 to each student and encourages them to reflect.

Discussion
(50 min.)

• D

• The teacher invites students to share their thoughts, discuss and reflect together.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies M11 (Leading idea “Water, a good in danger”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher hands out a copy of the exercise M12 to each pupil asking them to read the introduction of the exercise.

Work phase
(15 min.)

• PO

• Students work individually to analyse the cases in the exercise M12 and indicate which is mean and which is the end. Then they consider if the mean is appropriate to get the end and give reasons for their ideas.

Discussion
(40 min.)

• D

• The teacher invites students to share with classmates their own explanations of the word “understanding” and to see which of the sentences, contained in the exercise M12, introduce the moral dimension, and which refer only to the explanation.

Homework

• GW

• Students in groups should gather information from the City Council of their city on what means they promote to avoid water pollution and to save water. Then they have to present it in class.

Introduction
(5 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies M13 (Leading idea “Saving water”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher divides the class in small groups and hands out a copy of the exercise “Estimating consequences” M14 and asking them to read the introduction of the exercise.

Work phase
(20 min.)

• GW

• Every group completes the exercise M14 inserting the data that are missing in the statements.

Work phase
(15 min.)

• GW

• The teacher invites the groups to find what other means exist to reduce the excessive consume of water and to compare their research with their classmates to reflect all together on the questions contained in exercise M15.

Discussion
(20 min.)

• GW

• The teacher invites the groups to discuss together about their opinions emerged from the exercise M15 and encourage them to give good reasons.

Introduction
(10 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M16 (Leading idea “The rain”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher hands out a copy of activity contained in M17 to each pupil. Then S/he introduces the subject asking students to read the indications contained in the copy of the M17.

Work phase
(20 min.)

• A

• Each pupil completes the activity M17 writing the word CAUSE or EFFECT in relation to the water cycle.

Discussion
(25 min.)

• D

• The teacher stimulates the discussion among pupils about the activity contained in M17 inviting them to discuss with classmates the issues that they think are more relevant. Students do not need to answer all of them. The questions should create a philosophical dialogue and the teacher should always ask for the reasoning behind students’ answers (not allowing “yes” or “no” answers) to facilitate a critical thinking about cause and effects relationships linked to the water cycle.

Introduction
(10 min.)

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M16 (Leading idea “The rain”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher hands out a copy of the exercise to each pupil. They build pairs and the teacher introduces the subject asking students to read the instructions for the exercise M18 (“Classifying: kinds and degrees”).

Work phase
(45 min.)

• PW

• Each pair works for indicate what kind of differences has been taken into account in the exercise M18.

Work phase

• PW

• After doing the previous exercise, the teacher asking them about the difference between rain and acid rain, as indicated in the exercise M19 (“Rain and acid rain”).

Discussion

• D

• The teacher stimulates the discussion on the base of the indications contained in the first part of the activity M19, inviting the students reflect all together on which are the consequences of acid rain for the subjects indicated in the exercise M19.

Introduction

• PTS
• TP

Previous activity

• The teacher studies previously M20 (Leading Idea “Fish”).

Preparation

• Prepare a circle of chairs
• Hand out a copy of each exercise to each student

Execution

• The teacher hands out a copy of M21 to each pupil and introduces the subject asking them to read the introduction of the exercise.

Work phase
(15 min.)

• PO

• The students work in groups discussing about meanings and make notes on M21 what meanings it has in each sentence contained in M21 and making notes about them.

Work phase
(40 min.)

• PO

• The teacher invites the pupils to reflect on the question contained in the exercise M22 (“What would happen if all the fish in the world die?”) and ask them to share their opinions.

Homework

• HW

• The students have to think which behaviours, attitudes and activities can prevent all the fish from dying. They will present their reflections and discuss it in class together.