Water: Learn it for life! is an education program targeting early and middle years school children in Queensland. It provides teachers with an engaging program of lesson plans, activities, background research materials and multimedia tools. These include information on the key elements of water education for these years: the water cycle; water sources and storage; conservation and efficient use of water; and the new aspects of water recycling and alternative water sources.

The program is designed to build student awareness and understanding of water as a significant environmental issue that affects our lives locally, nationally and globally. It brings into focus the issues faced in Queensland and around the world as countries seek to secure their water future, and gives students opportunities to explore where water comes from, how it is used, and how to use it responsibly.

About the curriculum resource

The curriculum resource is the key component of the Water: Learn it for life! education program. Teachers can use it to give students meaningful learning opportunities to examine their own attitudes and behaviours towards water use and conservation. It includes detailed lesson plans, activities and background reference and support materials offering a comprehensive whole-of-school approach to learning about water.

Significantly, the resource has been designed to align with the Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework (QCAR) Essential Learnings and Standards introduced across all Queensland schools in 2008.

The PrimaryConnections 5 Es Teaching and Learning model (Australian Academy of Science, 2005) has been used as a framework to organise and structure the lessons within each unit. An additional component has been added to this model to encourage students to take action as a result of their learning.

How to use this resource

The program comprises a series of integrated units offering a broad range of teaching strategies and approaches. Each unit incorporates a sequence of lesson plans and activities. The lesson plans may also be used as stand-alone units.

The materials have been designed to provide enough detail to enable an early career teacher to understand the teaching and learning strategies and deliver the units with confidence. Equally, they provide the experienced teacher with an updated package of lesson plans and activities that align with the new curriculum framework. The units can be readily adapted for use in a school's existing curriculum.

Water: Learn it for life! is intended for use in classrooms throughout Queensland. While the materials have a statewide focus, teachers are strongly encouraged to incorporate local content into lessons and activities. Ideas about how to do this can be found in the 'Linking locally' section in each of the year level units.

• Introduction to Water: Learn it for life! (PDF, 190 kB)*. 

*Requires Acrobat Reader