Moving Water Through History (NEW!!)
Grade Range: 6th-12th Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes (with 30 min lunch)In this interactive history and engineering program, students will learn about tools and technologies that ancient civilizations used to harness water for drinking and irrigation (canals, aqueducts, Archimedes’ screw). They will work in groups to construct a model of an Archimedes’ screw, and experiment to see how different variables impact the tool’s effectiveness and rate of flow. Students will then turn their attention to modern water debates happening all over the world, to consider some current and impending water problems and evaluate existing solutions. Students will also reflect on the ways in which climate and geography shape what strategies are the most effective in different environments, both in the ancient world and today.
Learn MoreTaking Action for Safe Water
Grade Range: 6-12 Duration: 3 hours and 30 minutesIn this cross-disciplinary highly interactive STEM program, students will learn about the civic actions and scientific innovations that gave us the ability to easily access safe drinking water in our homes today.
Learn MoreThe Great Water Debate
Grade Range: 6-12 Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutesIn this interactive civics program, students will be invited to take on the role of a specific community in the 1800s debating whether or not Boston should build a public waterworks system. What seems like an easy decision to us today took decades of debate to settle. Students will examine a wide array of primary sources and consider the different forms of civic action one could take in support of their opinions both then and now. Students will then turn their attention to modern water debates happening all over the world, considering some current and impending water problems and evaluating existing solutions
Learn MoreUnder Pressure: Engineering Safe Water Access
Grade Range: 8-12 Duration: 2 hoursIn this interactive STEM program, students will recognize that the complex engines and pump systems at the Waterworks are actually just basic open fluid systems
Learn MoreWater in Our Changing Climate
Grade Range: 8-12 Duration: 3 hoursIn this inquiry-based exploration of climate change, students will learn about the Chestnut Hill High Service Pumping station’s history with coal use in the industrial age and the effects of emissions since that time on both saltwater and freshwater supplies. Students will observe how the ocean functions as a carbon sink, engage in hands-on water testing, and analyze some of the climate-related water crises currently unfolding around the world, as well as potential solutions.
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