Part 4 - Salinity

This section of Understanding Healthy Waterways poses the question: How does salinity affect the health of a waterway? Salinity has become a major problem for rural Australia and it poses a significant threat to the health of our waterways. But...

• What is salinity?
Salinity is the presence of soluble salts in water or
soils..., and in our waterways it is their presence in
excess quantities that concerns us.
• How has salinity become a problem?
The history of the problem starts in our past.
Australian soils are naturally rich in salts... but in
recent times we have helped contribute to the
problem.
• We know that salinity is a problem but what can we
learn that will help improve the health of our
waterways?

Students will aim to explore the guiding question about this important measure of water quality through following a coherent learning sequence. The sequence is based around the 5Es:

ENGAGE:  Students taste water samples and
compare the amount of salt in the samples to the
amount of salt in sea water. They find out about
the history of salinity in Australia.
EXPLORE:  Students examine the effect of salt on
living cells and investigate how salt gets into the
upper levels of soil. They play a simulation
"The Liquorice Salinity Game".
EXPLAIN:  Students research the problem of salinity
and reflect on its effects.
ELABORATE:  Students design an experiment to
investigate the effect of salt on seedlings or
on seeds.
EVALUATE:  Students reflect on the problem and in
response construct a cartoon or story book
about salinity.

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Part 4 - Salinity (pdf file 1.9Mb)