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Pre-Visit
Activities : Topography
Procedures
MAIN
| OBJECTIVES | STANDARDS
| BACKGROUND | PROCEDURES | ASSESSMENT
| RESOURCES
Materials
Top
Procedure
Preparation: The teacher should have the spray bottles
full of blue colored water ready prior to class.
- The
class will review the concepts of watersheds, drainage
divides and drainage basins. Ask students to think
about what creates the drainage divides in watersheds.
Students will discuss their ideas.
- The
class will be divided into small groups. Each group
will receive a tray, marker, newspaper, aluminum foil
or plastic wrap and tape. Students will crumple newspaper
into small balls and randomly tape them down in the
tray. The students will place aluminum foil or plastic
wrap over the newspaper so it follows the contours
of the crumpled up newspaper to simulate the topography
of mountains and valleys. A book will be placed under
one end of the tray so that it is elevated to simulate
the sloping of land toward the sea.
- Using
the marker, the students will draw on the aluminum
foil where they predict the drainage divides will
occur in their models and where water might collect
in pools. Bring the spray bottle(s) filled with blue
colored water to each group, and have students spray
several pumps of water on the model (for management
purposes, you may want to do the spraying yourself).
Students will observe how the water flows, what direction
it moves and where it collects and compare this with
their original predictions.
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Students will examine the physical map of South Carolina
and observe that some drainage divides occur where
there do not seem to be any major elevation differences,
such as in the Coastal Plain. In their trays, students
will tape drinking straws or pencils down to the bottom
and cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil or plastic
wrap. Students will again predict where they think
the water will flow. Again assist students in
spraying water and have students observe where the
water flows. Students will infer from this that even
slight elevation changes can form drainage divides.
- Students
will create a model of the state of South Carolina
in their trays. Using newspaper, drinking straws and
aluminum foil again, students will create a topography
that simulates each region of South Carolina. The
tray will have a definitely recognizable Mountain
region, a Piedmont region, a Coastal Plain region
and an Ocean. The model will also represent the four
major watersheds of South Carolina (Savannah, PeeDee,
Santee and Coastal Rivers) and drainage divides will
occur in similar positions to those found in South
Carolina. When water is poured on their model, the
water will flow from the mountains to the sea and
major drainage basins will be the same. Students do
not need to worry about reproducing the position of
rivers, streams, mountains and reservoirs, just watersheds
and ecoregions. The model does not need to be the
shape of South Carolina, but can fit the shape of
the tray.
Top
Follow-up questions
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How accurate are these models? When it rains on soil,
does all of the water stay on top of the soil and
run off like it does on aluminum foil? Would some
of the water become groundwater in the natural world?
Does any of the water in the model become groundwater?
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How do the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains affect
the shapes of watersheds and the direction of water
flow in the United States?
- Is
there anywhere in the United States where a watershed
does not flow into one of the oceans or the Gulf of
Mexico? Where and why?
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