Observe a Raindrop Traveling Through Various Paths of the Water Cycle - In this interactive resource, students move a raindrop through different parts of the water cycle. By clicking on an arrow, students can select where the raindrop in a cloud will fall as precipitation and continue to transfer the drop through different paths in the cycle. When students place their cursor over an arrow, two text boxes appear—one contains the name of the process and another supplies a short definition of it. Precipitation, sublimation, transpiration, infiltration, runoff, and melting are among the processes represented.
The Water Cycle 1 - This interactive diagram of the water cycle invites students to click on a part of the cycle to get information about streamflow, surface runoff, freshwater storage, ground-water discharge, ground-water storage, infiltration, precipitation, snowmelt, runoff to streams, springs, condensation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, water in the atmosphere, ice and snow, and oceans. A summary of the water cycle on a single web page is also available as text with pictures in about 50 languages, text only in 13 languages, or diagram only.
The Water Cycle 2 - This web site, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, is divided into four interactive, animated graphic sections: rain, water storage, vapor, and clouds. Students can discover the forms of precipitation and why it occurs, the development of aquifers, transpiration, and condensation. This is a great web site for young students to grasp the connections between different forms of water.
The Water Cycle Webquest
Answer the following questions on your own piece of paper as you explore the links above.
First Stop: Click on the first link. Click the red arrows on the picture to see what happens and to answer the following questions.
1. What is transpiration?
2. What form is water in when it goes through the evaporation process?
3. How does melting snow on a mountain top relate to the water cycle?
Second Stop: Click on the second link above. Click on the different parts of the water cycle to learn more and to answer the following questions.
4. How do people use the process of evaporation?
5. What is another term for the storage of groundwater and how do we use it?
6. What is surface runoff and what causes it?
7. How does a spring form? Can we drink the water from it?
8. How do raindrops form?
9. What is the speed (feet/second) that a heavy raindrop would fall towards Earth?
10. Why is the air colder higher in the sky? (hint: check the condensation section)
11. How do clouds form and why do they rain?
12. What percentage of land do glaciers cover?
13. How are ice caps and glaciers involved in water storage?
14. Where is most of Earth's water stored? Where is the least amount of Earth's water stored?
Third Stop: Click on the third link above. Listen to the introduction and then press Auto.
15. What are four types of precipitation discussed?
16. Why is the process of transpiration necessary to sustain life?
17. What is condensation?
18. Why does the process of precipitation happen?
19. Can water from an aquifer be used as drinking water?
20. Tell me about three facts that you learned from this webquest today that you did not know before today. Be specific!
The Water Cycle 1 - This interactive diagram of the water cycle invites students to click on a part of the cycle to get information about streamflow, surface runoff, freshwater storage, ground-water discharge, ground-water storage, infiltration, precipitation, snowmelt, runoff to streams, springs, condensation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, water in the atmosphere, ice and snow, and oceans. A summary of the water cycle on a single web page is also available as text with pictures in about 50 languages, text only in 13 languages, or diagram only.
The Water Cycle 2 - This web site, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, is divided into four interactive, animated graphic sections: rain, water storage, vapor, and clouds. Students can discover the forms of precipitation and why it occurs, the development of aquifers, transpiration, and condensation. This is a great web site for young students to grasp the connections between different forms of water.
The Water Cycle Webquest
Answer the following questions on your own piece of paper as you explore the links above.
First Stop: Click on the first link. Click the red arrows on the picture to see what happens and to answer the following questions.
1. What is transpiration?
2. What form is water in when it goes through the evaporation process?
3. How does melting snow on a mountain top relate to the water cycle?
Second Stop: Click on the second link above. Click on the different parts of the water cycle to learn more and to answer the following questions.
4. How do people use the process of evaporation?
5. What is another term for the storage of groundwater and how do we use it?
6. What is surface runoff and what causes it?
7. How does a spring form? Can we drink the water from it?
8. How do raindrops form?
9. What is the speed (feet/second) that a heavy raindrop would fall towards Earth?
10. Why is the air colder higher in the sky? (hint: check the condensation section)
11. How do clouds form and why do they rain?
12. What percentage of land do glaciers cover?
13. How are ice caps and glaciers involved in water storage?
14. Where is most of Earth's water stored? Where is the least amount of Earth's water stored?
Third Stop: Click on the third link above. Listen to the introduction and then press Auto.
15. What are four types of precipitation discussed?
16. Why is the process of transpiration necessary to sustain life?
17. What is condensation?
18. Why does the process of precipitation happen?
19. Can water from an aquifer be used as drinking water?
20. Tell me about three facts that you learned from this webquest today that you did not know before today. Be specific!