Water for Peace Resources

Iraq, Water & Science

  • Activity Ideas:
    • http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/kids/flash/flash_aquifer.html -EPA’s flash presentation on how to build your own aquifer.  This project shows students how wells and ground water can become contaminated.
    • Put students in groups and have them research their state’s water issues.  Ask each group to make a recommendation about a new state policy that would solve the problems they found.  Follow with a presentation on the Clean Water Act.
  • Divide students into groups and have them look at the attached table (on page 4 of this document) showing the analysis of tap water in Iraq.  Before the groups start to work, explain to them the different symbols for elements.  For younger students, highlight the “Na” row and explain how Na is related to table salt.  Provide for kids the accepted amount of sodium in drinking water (20 milligrams per liter (mg/l)), and ask them to compare this figure to the sodium levels in Iraq
  • After learning about the problems with water in Iraq and America, challenge students to build their own water filters.  Provide a selection of materials and have students work in groups.  Test each group’s water filter.
  • Alternatively, for younger students, the class can work together to build a water filter following the EPA’s flash presentation: http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw000/kids/flash/flash_filtration.html
  • Educational Objectives, State of Minnesota, Sixth Grade
    • 6.1.2.1.1 – Identify a common engineered system and evaluate its impact on the daily life of humans.  Ex:  Refrigeration, cell phone or automobile.
    • 6.1.2.1.2 – Recognize that there is no perfect design and that new technologies have consequences that may increase some risks and decrease others.  Ex:  Seat belts and airbags.
    • 6.1.2.2.1 – Apply and document an engineering design process that includes identifying criteria and constraints, making representations, testing and evaluation, and refining the design as needed to construct a product or system that solves a problem.  For example: Investigate how energy changes from one form to another by designing and constructing a simple roller coaster for a marble.

Iraq, Water & History/Social Studies

  • Activity Ideas:
  • Alternatively, learn about Mesopotamia as a class and then ask the students to think about how water contributed to each aspect of life in Mesopotamia
  • Either as a follow up to learning about Mesopotamia or as a separate activity, ask students to research different aspects of modern Iraq.  Consider presentations or a paper.  Again, ask students to think about how water affects different aspects of life in modern Iraq.
    • Online resources about modern Iraq
      • http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries/iraq/index.stm
      • Educational Objectives, State of Minnesota, Grades 4-8
        • Substrand: Beginning of Human Society
          • Students will describe the development of agriculture and its effect on human communities.
          • Students will illustrate or retells the main ideas from stories that disclose the origins, history and traditions of various cultures around the world.
          • Students will describe significant historical achievements of various cultures of the world
  • Substrand: Western Civilizations,  Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1640-1920 AD
    • Students will examine the effects of imperialism on the colonial societies of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries.

Iraq, Water & Current Events/Social Studies

  • Activity Ideas:
    • Ask students to each bring in one article in the past 10 years about Iraq and water.  Build a timeline together on one wall of the classroom that illustrates how Iraq came into its water troubles.
    • Ask students to think about how water plays a part in war and international conflict.  Ask students to bring an article about water’s role in conflict from a newspaper, magazine, or online source  to class and have them present.
    • Articles about Iraq’s water issues and other resources about Iraq

Introductions to the importance of clean, available water in Iraq

More on water and politics

More on water and economics

More on water and illness

Videos