REVERSING THE CYCLE: USING STUDENTS AS ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS IN DIAGRAMMING THE RESERVOIRS, TRANSPORT PATHWAYS, AND ROLE OF HUMANS IN THE WATER CYCLE

In many physical and online classrooms, students are provided with an already-completed diagram full of arrows and labels to learn about the water cycle. This method of teaching about the hydrologic cycle often fails to foster student interaction, overlooks the tools and methods used to measure hydrologic reservoirs and transport pathways, and does not consider anthropogenic impacts on the hydrosphere.

The NSF-funded GETSI (GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues) project has developed over a dozen teaching modules featuring geodesy data applied to critical societal issues including natural hazards, climate change, and water resources. GETSI teaching modules are available for introductory, majors-level, and field courses and include a variety of support materials for faculty who use GETSI materials in their classrooms. The Eyes on the Hydrosphere module was designed for introductory-level classrooms and tasks students with analyzing the major reservoirs of the hydrosphere and the methods of measuring how water moves through the Earth system; interpreting data from watersheds with different hydroclimatic regimes; assessing short and long-term trends in water availability; and evaluating the societal impacts of changing water supply and demand related to natural and anthropogenic forcings.

This presentation features an excerpt from Unit 1 (Exploring the Reservoirs, Pathways, and Methods to Measure the Hydrologic Cycle) of the Eyes on the Hydrosphere module that reimagines introducing students to the water cycle. Audience members, provided with a water cycle diagram and a series of prompts, will have the opportunity to work in small groups to annotate their water cycle diagram. This activity, coupled with pre-class readings about water and society, post-activity formative assessment, and a jigsaw activity about traditional and geodetic methods for measuring the hydrosphere, facilitates student engagement, collaborative work, and consideration of how the hydrosphere is impacted by humans. We will also briefly discuss how this activity has been used in online classroom environments.