Teaching resources

We have put together a list of teaching resources about water, our water cycles, water catchments and stormwater systems.

The water cycle

Water moves between lakes, rivers, oceans the atmosphere and the land in an ongoing cycle. You can learn about the water cycle at:

Resource	Learning outcome
ICON Water	Water and sewerage systems Explains water and sewerage systems. Students can click on an interactive diagram to learn about Canberra’s urban water cycle.
Cool.org	Water cycle resources Students can watch a range of videos and carry out activities relating to water cycles.

The table below shares a list of resources to help students understand water catchments.

Resource	Learning outcome
Icon Water's activity guide	Hands as a map activity Teaches students the basics of catchments using their hands.
Waterwise Queensland's story of a river	The story of a river A fictional story that will show students how land activities affect rivers.
Waterwise Queensland's story of a river lesson guides	The story of a river A fictional story that will show students how land activities affect rivers.
Healthy Catchment game guide from Waterwise Queensland	Healthy catchment game Teaches students to think about what items should or shouldn’t be in their local waterways.
ACT water catchment map	Schools in the ACT water catchment map Locates your school’s local catchment and where water goes in the ACT.
Murray-Darling Basin catchment map [127.7 KB]	Catchment maps These maps will show you what your home’s local sub-catchment is.
Upper Murrumbidgee catchment map [221.9 KB]	Catchment maps These maps will show you what your home’s local sub-catchment is.
New Zealand Government's activity guide	3D catchment basin Build a 3D catchment basin to teach students how structures can affect water collection.
TeachEngineering's how-to video	3D catchment basin Build a 3D catchment basin to teach students how structures can affect water collection.

The table below shares resources to help teach students about stormwater.

Resource	Learning outcome
Preserving Our Waterways classroom activity for ACT primary and secondary school [PDF 230.7 KB]	Learn about what causes stormwater pollution and how young people can improve garden practices in their homes to help prevent blue/green algae outbreaks in Canberra’s waterways. Deliver a practical stormwater pollution prevention poster activity to consolidate students’ learning.
School stormwater audit activity by the Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre	Stormwater audit Students will explore their local stormwater drains. They will also discover how they can positively impact their local waterways.
Cool.org.au stormwater audit activity	Stormwater audit Students will explore their local stormwater drains. They will also discover how they can positively impact their local waterways.
Cool Australia's lesson guide	Write tips to reduce stormwater pollution Students can use what they learned in the stormwater audit to write tips reduce stormwater pollution for their school.

The table below shares resources to help teach students about land, plants and water.

Resource	Learning outcome
Melbourne Water's lesson guide	The links between erosion and water clarity Explore the link between turbidity, a measure of water clarity, and erosion. Students will also learn about the effect of high levels of turbidity on the survival of living things in freshwater environments.

Teach students about keeping waterways healthy with these activities:

Contact the ACT Healthy Waterways team at healthywaterways@act.gov.au to borrow a drain stencilling kit. Students can use the kit to help raise awareness that only rain should go down the stormwater drain.
Visit your local pond, lake or wetland. Students can use the educational materials or have a Waterwatch educator teach students about the importance of water.

Resource	Learning outcome
Queensland Department of Environment, Land and Water educational resources for schools	Waterwise educational resources A range of lesson plans and activities on water topics for different year levels
Melbourne Water educational resources	School and community water resources A range of water-based resources for different audiences. Also an option to book a school excursion or a public tour at a treatment plant or wetland.
Australian Water Association teacher resources	Water topics for teachers and students Water resources for Science, Geography and History in the national Australian Curriculum.