 Learning Flows at Tucson’s Water Festivals
Have you been at a city park during a school day and seen rows of colorful tents filled with excited students? These are 4th graders from local elementary schools, accompanied by their teachers and parent volunteers, engaging in an immersive Water Festival experience. If you look closer, you'll see that these tents are labeled Water Cycle, Water Sustainability, Watershed, and Groundwater, and community volunteers are busy leading interactive lessons with these students.
With funds from a Water Conservation Fee paid by customers, Tucson Water has invested in a robust K12 education program focused on water resources and water conservation, reaching nearly 750,000 students in the last 15 years! If you know an educator or school-age kid, ask if they've been to a water festival or had Dr. Faucet in their classroom -- if they have, they can likely share memorable details.
The University of Arizona's Arizona Project WET (Water Education Today) has been a key partner in delivering these Water Festivals and providing standards-based, high-quality, engaging water education across Arizona for 20 years. Arizona Project WET's mission is to develop the next generation of water stewards through student-centered instruction and Arizona-specific content.
"Arizona Project WET helped me to create Water Festival opportunities within our district boundaries so that our entire 4th grade could participate and learn in their own local, school communities. The Water Festival, in partnership with our classroom teachers, helps students to learn about how water moves within the natural system and how they as citizens can be better conservators of the precious resource that is water. This partnership has been going strong for the past two years and we look forward to continuing to work with them in this important endeavor."
-William Kotter
Science Coordinator
Sunnyside Unified School District
Tucson Water sponsors several Project WET Water Festivals, and this school year, 4th graders from Sunnyside, Marana, Amphitheater, and Tucson Unified School Districts were able to participate. These educational field days are the culmination of teacher training sessions provided by Arizona Project WET, followed by the teachers' delivering lessons to their students. The students learn about our local water cycle and water resources, emphasizing understanding our local groundwater system and becoming better water stewards.
During the festival, students explore four different stations with hands-on activities. At the groundwater station, students conduct experiments using a groundwater model. The water cycle station features a dice game where students pretend to be water drops moving through the different parts of the water web. A watershed model allows students to see how water moves from the mountains into the valley and humans' impact within this system. The water conservation station features a relay game demonstrating the importance of saving every drop.
Tucson's Water Festivals are a joyful day of learning and community building. Tucson Water staff proudly serve alongside other community members to lead Water Festival lessons. Volunteers see the hard work of teachers and students who have prepared for this day and now get to put their learning to work through active and meaningful activities. These Water Festivals create memorable learning moments and opportunities to instill a conservation ethic in the next generation of Tucsonans who understand our water system and are ready to become responsible desert dwellers.
To learn about educator opportunities or sign up to volunteer, visit projectwet.arizona.edu
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