Project WET - Water Olympics

Hello fellow scientists,

A little while ago, my classmates and I completed a program titled "Project WET." In order to complete the program, we had to spend so many hours learning the material and how to teach the activities. We also had to prepare and teach an activity ourselves. We all did it in groups of three, and we each had a different activity.

Among the three groups, my favorite activity was "The Water Olympics." It resembled having your students participate in learning centers. We all got in pairs to work with each other.There were 4 activities and they were set up at different stations.

At one station, we were supposed to see how many drops of water we could put on a penny before it spilled over. I do not remember exactly, but I think me and my partner had the most drops out of everyone. Whoo whoo! In another station, there was a cup filled with water filled to the rim. We had to see how many pennies we could add to it before it began to spill over. This was a challenge, and we all came to figure out that there was a technique to it (hint: slide it in slowly and tilt the penny rather than just dropping it in).

At the third station, the task was to add paper clips to a bowl of water and see how many you can add before they start sinking. The goal is to have the most floating paper clips. This also required a technique that I could not grasp. Lastly, we had to figure out which brand of paper towel would hold the most liquid. I believe the choices in our activity were Bounty and Viva. If I remember correctly, Bounty held the most.

Each activity was challenging yet engaging and fun. This would be great for each teacher to be able to incorporate into their classroom. The Project WET program as a whole is very valuable, and it's a great learning experience for not only the students, but the teachers that get certified in the program can learn quite a lot as well!

Until next time,
Christina