Discovery+Box

Below are screen shots of parts of the multimedia presentation we have assembled for this project. We used at tool called [|Discovery Box]. In our project box we have stored resources a teacher might use with a class to get them to explore different aspects of the driving question. The stand we have taken on the issue of the **Value of Water ** is that it is a precious resource. We have narrowed the scope of the project some from the original bubbl.us posted here to concentrating on a few main ideas. We would have students come to value their community's fresh water resources after:
 * determining just how scarce the world's fresh drinking water is. It makes up only 1% of the total water on the Earth.
 * understanding why in a water-rich nation like Canada (ranks 4th richest in the world), that the water supply can be endangered by contaminants (problem of quality) and by shortages (problem of supply). Communities in Canada live under boil water orders (some for years!) and people here have died from drinking contaminated water. Urban areas live under water use restrictions for most of the summer. We want the students to know these are not 'distant' problems, but that this is an issue that affects them all directly.
 * having students become knowledgeable about the location and health of their local watershed as the foundation for guiding personal or community choices with respect to water protection and consumption.
 * discovering that the purchase of bottled water is very expensive, that in most areas tap water must pass water quality tests that are higher than those for bottled water, that multinational corporations are getting rich selling our own water to us in bottles which mostly end up in landfills and further contaminate the natural water supply as they break down. This should be unnecessary if individuals put a high value on this resource and act to safeguard their local water sources.

In this box is a sample selection of videos and sound files, images, text and pdf files, and links students would use as a starting point for research. Although not stated in so many words, the implied message of all these sources is that unless we act to protect our water supply we will be doomed to pay more and more for a resource that belongs to the citizens of this country and that should be our birthright.

= DISCOVERY BOX: [|link to our box] = There are 8 cubes in our box. 2) When you click on a slot, the cube is revealed. This shows an expansion of the Water Quality cube (top right above). The video that is showing here (the front piece of this cube) is an original slide show made for this project. All downloading was done with permission. 3) Each time you click another side of the flattened cube, the big one whirls to reveal what is stored there. Links can be opened. Text and pdf files can be downloaded. Video and sound files can be played. 4) 'Introductions' is the sort of introductory piece schools might do if collaborting via the interent. 5) The login and passwords to the material from Teacher's Domain in Cube 2 are both: v3s9v2 6) 'Repect All Work' is there as a starter kit for using and finding Creative Commons sources. It also has a link to a 'mostly free' bibliography program. 7) The last cube is a collection of odds and sods that will give students something to think about.

Discovery Box is a tool groups could use as well. Although we have only used one layer, it is possible to have from 1 to 8 cubes in a box with as many as 3 layers in a box. Before students can publish their work, they first have to submit it for moderation by the teacher who is free to send it back with comments, delete it, or accept it and add it to the gallery. Instructions for use have been saved from the website and are posted as a text file at the bottom of this page. The administrator's link is: []