Community Waters Science Unit

ABOUT THE UNIT

Community Waters, a 4th-grade science unit co-developed with Seattle Public Schools, involves students in asking questions and solving real community environmental problems through engineering. In the process, students deepen their science knowledge, come to view science as relevant to their lives and future, and engage in science in socially relevant and transformative ways.

Community Waters is one of only four elementary school units and 12 total K-12 science lessons/units nationwide to be highlighted as an example of high quality Next Generation Science Standards curriculum design. The 2018-edition of the Community Waters Science Unit was reviewed by Achieve’s EQuIP Peer Review Panel for Science (PRP) and received the second-highest rating possible. View the rating here.

 

We are continually refining the unit and the feedback we received from the EQuIP panel will be helpful for future revisions. We plan on resubmitting an updated edition of Community Waters in the future with the goal of securing EQuIP’s highest rating.

INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS

Interested in teaching Community Waters in your classroom? We provide teachers with the content, direct support, and professional development they need to integrate the unit into their teaching.

OUR IMPACT

STUDENTS ARE HIGHLY ENGAGED IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Teachers rate student engagement with Community Waters as “very high,” with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5

SO MUCH MORE THAN A PUDDLE

The fourth-graders at John Rogers Elementary School in North Seattle had found their problem site: the parking lot behind their school. Just one rainfall could turn it into a giant pool of water.

Read the Story

“The biggest connection for my students is realizing that science is not something done only in the classroom. This stormwater unit helped them to connect science and engineering issues in their own schoolyard and neighborhoods to solutions that they could design themselves. Kids are noticing a lot more potential areas of concern, and are thinking of ways to solve these real-life problems.”

 

 –Aaron Kinion, Teacher at Broadview-Thomson K-8