Sand Tank Model
The Consortium's Ground Water Simulation Model
On September 20, 1999,
the Hamilton to New Baltimore Groundwater Consortium, was
awarded a $5,000 mini grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection
Agency's Environmental Education Fund. With the grant money the Consortium
purchased 12 three-dimensional groundwater sand tank models similar to the
model shown above and prepared an age appropriate ground water protection
curricula education binder for elementary, middle and high schools in the
Hamilton to New Baltimore area.
11 models and curricula binders were distributed to area schools. One model
and curricula binder are available as a loan to schools that wish to add
this valuable tool to their groundwater unit lessons in an effort to teach
children about our great natural resource, ground water!
Please contact the Ground Water Consortium Manager, Tim McLelland at
513-785-2464 for more information.
The ultimate goal of this ground water education project is to improve
student understanding of ground water as a source of drinking water and the
need to protect the source.
The curriculum includes a wide variety of activities and lecture materials
for ground water study units as well as presentation guidelines for shorter
sessions. All the materials can be tailored to specific grade levels.
For middle school students, the lesson can be expanded to include discussions on the geologic impact of glaciers in Ohio, ground water movement, source of ground water pollution, and how pollution affects drinking water.
For high school students, the model can be used for teaching more compelling issues including the specifics of ground water movement (permeability, porosity, hydraulic conductivity), ground water/surface water recharge, and ground water pollution.
Please click on the link below to see the appendix for the ground water curricula binder. (PDF)
