Now That’s Some Tasty Science!

“I can’t wait to tell my parents I ate dirt today!” exclaimed a 3rd grader in science class. Don’t worry. The “dirt” was part of a model tying together their exploration of the water cycle, from weather patterns to wells: an edible aquifer!

Each student scientist assembled their own using this recipe:

During the simulation, each aquifer was sadly contaminated with more water tainted with pesticides (green food coloring) or oil run-off (yellow food coloring). Contaminated water seeped through the models at different rates, and some scientists were hopeful theirs had been spared. Scientists dug a well using a drill (straw) to pull up the groundwater. Alas! The food dye had reached the fresh water supply. (Though, as students were reminded, sometimes contamination is tasteless, colorless, and odorless—you can’t count on the food dye in real life!) 

The aquifers were replenished thanks to passing rainstorm Becca, but even a new supply of fresh water wasn’t enough to clear out the existing contamination. “Sometimes, contamination can take hundreds of years to disperse,” she explained. “Does that mean we’re going to be in this class for a hundred years?!” asked a student.

Luckily, the years passed as if a moment. Eventually, each aquifer was depleted (eaten) as they shared a classwide review of the component parts of the model. We “dig” this kind of hands-on learning!