Water in Extreme Environments engages youth in collaborative teams to engineer water filters with basic materials, and by playing a game to learn about where water can be found in our solar system.

Science and Engineering Overview: 

• Youth explore how much, how accessible, and how usable water is on earth and elsewhere in our solar system. They consider if water is potentially habitable on other planetary bodies, and propose a planetary body to explore based on evidence of water. (Science Activities S1-S3)
• Life on Earth requires access to clean water, and as populations grow, the demand for water increases. Youth participating in this unit become water resource engineers as they use the steps of the Engineering Design Process to design creative ways to reuse water (Engineering Activities P1-A6).

All PLANETS Units are Research-Based and Educator and Youth Tested. They include:

1. Free, printable educator guides.
2. Free, printable student journals/notebooks.
3. Videos and additional pdf resources to support educators in preparing materials, addressing 21st Century Skills, building content knowledge, and facilitating successful youth collaboration.

Links to helpful resources:

• Printable Unit at a Glance
• Printable Learning Progressions
• Printable Back Pocket Activity Essentials
• Buy a kit for the Engineering Unit or gather your own materials from the kit’s content list.