CONSERVING WATER IN

OUR SCHOOL
Introduction
We live on one of the world’s driest continents and it is getting hotter. Due to
Australia’s low annual rainfall, we need to be conscious of the ways that we
use water. Schools need to use water for a variety of reasons, so it is
important that they have continual access to a water source. As schools work
towards being more sustainable they are required to consider the different
sources of water (e.g. rainwater, stormwater, recycled water, tank water) and
what each can be used for.

Brief
Our school is reassessing its water efficiency.
The principal is looking at all the different
sources of water we have access to and how it
can best be used. As a result of his review,
Mister Walker has realised that rainwater is a
resource we are not currently utilising. Mister
Walker has asked the Year 5 classes to help him
design a water tank system to capture and store
rainwater for future use. You must design a
model water storage system to present to Mister
Walker

Generating Designs
You will need to generate two possible designs. For each consider:·
How will the rainwater get into the tank?
What do you know about how liquids travel?
What materials are sustainable and best suited to water storage?·
How will your design take into account factors such as evaporation?
Based on these considerations, your most suitable design will be made into a
 Project Specifications
You are only to make one model storage system to present. The school
will provide you with cardboard, cylinders, aluminium foil, pop sticks,
straws, tins and other miscellaneous materials from the Technologies
Storeroom. These will be available for you to view during the lesson
dedicated for planning. You are not restricted to these items, but you will
need to supply any extra materials required. We encourage you
repurpose old items if possible.

Project Management
You will be given one lesson to research, one lesson to design your water
storage systems, and two lessons build your models

Evaluation
After creating your product, you will need to reflect
on how functional your design is, how effective it
could be at saving water and the tools and
construction process you used to make it.
There will be a People’s Choice award at our
presentation session to help Mister Walker make a
decision of which water storage system could be
most useful to the school.

Presentation
We will have a presentation session during a lesson where Mister Walker and
other staff will wander the classroom to view your models. You will have the
opportunity to explain to them the elements of your design and why your model
will be useful to the school.

Time 7 Design and Technology lessons over the course of Term 3

will be allocated to the project.