EDUCATION PROGRAM
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.
Enduring Understanding
Ancient peoples created technologies to use and channel water in order to survive. Modern cities are facing similar challenges, and are addressing the issues with new strategies and new technologies.
Essential Question
How did ancient peoples around the world harness the power of technology to solve their water issues, and what strategies are available to help solve imminent water crises today?
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Identify some specific tools that ancient peoples used to harness water for drinking and irrigation (canals, aqueducts, Archimedes’ screw)
- Understand the ways in which climate and geography shaped what strategies were most effective in different ancient settlements
- Construct a model of an Archimedes’ screw, and experiment to see how different variables impact the tool’s effectiveness and rate of flow
- Identify modern cities with impending water crises and some existing real-world solutions that could help to mitigate them
- Understand the ways in which climate and geography shape what strategies may be most effective in different modern cities today
Upcoming Events
Current Exhibit
Moving Water: From Ancient Innovations to Modern Challenges
Ancient civilizations engineered water systems that sustained communities for thousands of years. This exhibition spotlights six places that innovated ways to deliver, and control water for human use. It also looks at how climate change is impacting all of those places, forcing public officials to consider new ways to keep the water flowing.