Turn your classroom into a water quality investigation lab.

In this Environmental Science Data Investigation, students analyze real-world style datasets to determine why the city’s drinking water reservoir has become unusually cloudy.

Through graphing, trend analysis, and structured evidence evaluation, students uncover the most likely cause of the change in water quality.

This is not a simple reading or worksheet.

Students actively:

• Create graphs from multiple environmental datasets
• Analyze turbidity levels across multiple sites
• Examine rainfall totals and storm patterns
• Evaluate stream flow rate data
• Investigate construction activity upstream
• Compare upstream and downstream conditions
• Identify patterns and evaluate data reliability
• Construct a structured Claim–Evidence–Reasoning explanation
• Propose environmental solutions and follow-up monitoring plans

What Students Learn

Students explore and understand:

• How land clearing increases erosion
• How sediment runoff affects water quality
• How heavy rainfall intensifies runoff and stream flow
• The relationship between turbidity and drinking water safety
• How human land use impacts freshwater systems
• How environmental changes can be measured and monitored
  

This investigation connects erosion, stormwater runoff, and ecosystem impacts in a meaningful, data-driven way.

What’s Included

• Complete Student Case File Packet
• Mission Briefing & Background Reading (erosion, turbidity, runoff, land use)
• Multiple Graph-Ready Datasets (turbidity, rainfall totals, flow rate, construction records)
• Trend Hunt & Data Quality Check Pages
• Checklist Interpretation Section
• Scaffolded Claim–Evidence–Reasoning Writing Pages
• Extension Activity (environmental solutions + follow-up investigation design)
• Teacher Answer Keys and Grading Rubric
• Glossary of Terms (Grade 5+ accessible language)
• Word + PDF formats

How Teachers Use This Bundle

• Water quality units
• Human impact lessons
• Whole-class investigations
• Small group collaborative work
• Independent assessments
• Sub plans
• Review before tests
• Project-based learning units
• Environmental science electives

Each case can be completed in 1–2 class periods.

Why Teachers Love the Format

• Highly engaging without added classroom management stress
• Clear structure that supports all learners
• Strong alignment to NGSS Science & Engineering Practices
• Builds both science content and structured writing skills
• Flexible pacing for any schedule

You can find this activity inside my Environmental Science Data Analysis and Graphing Investigations Bundle which currently includes:

✔ The Fish Kill at Riverbend Creek

✔ The Algae Bloom at Lake Greenwood

✔ The Cloudy Reservoir Case

✔ The Dying Wetland Plants Investigation

✔ The Coral Reef Bleaching Case

Standards Alignment

Supports NGSS Science & Engineering Practices:

• Analyzing & Interpreting Data
• Constructing Explanations
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts:

• Cause & Effect
• Systems & System Models
• Stability & Change

Disciplinary Core Ideas:

• Human impacts on Earth systems
• Ecosystem dynamics

Climate and environmental change

Designed For

• 6th–9th Grade Environmental Science
• Earth Science
• Ecology Units
• Human Impact Lessons
• Climate & Sustainability Topics

Students don’t just read about environmental problems — they analyze the data, evaluate the evidence, and determine what actually happened.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at devon@teachwithfergy.com