Clean Water Activities Guide
Provided by: Global Schools Program|Published on: July 18, 2025
Grades: 6-AP
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography, Health
Authors: Global Schools Program
Region: Global
Languages: English
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this collection of activities and resources from the Global Schools Program, students will learn about the importance of accessible, clean water and how it connects to other Sustainable Development Goals.
- Students will understand how water-borne illnesses are spread, how accessibility can impact women's access to education and other rights, how climate change impacts water scarcity, and what they can do to reduce water waste and prevent contamination.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This wide range of resources can fit a variety of contexts, allowing any student to learn about the importance of clean water.
- Students will love the hands-on activities and the option to design their own action project.
Prerequisites
- The Debate Topics listed after the Quiz Questions are not meant to be presented as facts, but as opinions to debate. This is particularly important to note for question 2.
- The guide includes many videos that teachers can watch to grow their background knowledge on this topic.
- Students may benefit from knowing about the Sustainable Development Goals in order to see the connections between water accessibility and the other goals.
- The SIMA Classroom link and the link for the UNESCO resource under Additional Resources for Teachers are broken.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Teachers may want to use the vocabulary words listed in Part 2 of the guide in a pre-teaching activity or incorporate them into existing vocabulary-building systems.
- Geography teachers can incorporate Sample Introduction Activity Four into their teaching to discuss how location influences the availability of natural resources.
- Science teachers can use Sample Introduction Activities One or Two to highlight the importance of water conservation as they discuss the water cycle and the amount of available fresh water on Earth.
- Health teachers can use Sample Introduction Activity Three to explain how water-borne diseases spread and the importance of proper hygiene.
- Language arts teachers can have their students study the TED video as an example of public speaking. Students can note how the elements in the speech contributed to the speaker's message.
- Some videos do not have text. Students may benefit from having this text read to them or from slowing the video playback speed.
This resource presents activities to engage students in learning UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation. The background is well-sourced, with links to sources throughout the text. The entire resource is strongly grounded in sustainability, and the links between water and climate change are addressed. The debate topics on page 23 are troubling, however. Topic 2 states, “Climate change is not man-made. It is a natural phenomenon.” The surrounding topics do not make it clear that this is a point to be refuted.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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