The Little Drop That Could
LaVerne Engelhardt
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy
Overland Park, Kansas

Overview:

Everyone should use water wisely. The Reeves Cattle Company, located in Garden City, Finney County, is an example of an industry that strives to use its pumped water and other resources in a very prudent manner.

Grade Level: 7-8

Time Needed: Two to three class sessions

Geographic Themes:

Location, Region, Movement, Place, Human-Environment Interactions

Kansas Social Studies Standards for Benchmarks, Grade Levels 8-K:

• The student will understand the connections among people, places, and environments in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations of the world.
• The student will understand the effects of economics, science, and technology in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations in the world.

National Geography Standards, Grades 5-8:

#1	The geographically informed person knows and understands how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
#3	The geographically informed person knows and understands how to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on the Earth's surface.
#4	The geographically informed person knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of place.
#5	The geographically informed person knows and understands that people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.
#7	The geographically informed person knows and understands the physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface.
#11	The geographically informed person knows and understands the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface
#14	The geographically informed person knows and understands how human actions modify the physical environment.

Outcome:

To develop a greater understanding of the wise use of water.

Performance Objectives:

1. The student will locate Garden City on a map of Kansas.
2. The student will construct and explain a diagram illustrating how water is used at the Reeves Cattle Company.

Vocabulary (see Glossary):

xerscaping aquifer Ogallala Aquifer

primary economic activity secondary economic activity tertiary economic activity

 

Materials:

• Reeves Cattle Company video which can be obtained from Paul Phillips or slides and commentary which can be obtained from LaVerne Engelhardt (913-491-4082) Voice Mail or e-mail LGENGEL@aol.com)
• Kansas Precipitation Map by County (see Appendix B)
• High Plains and Ogallala Aquifer information and map (see Appendix B)
• Diagram of "The Little Drop That Could" (included)
• National Geographic magazines or other print containing pictures of economic activities
• Buchanan, R., & Buddemeier, R. (1993). Kansas ground water. Lawrence, KS: Kansas Geological Survey.
• The Reeves Cattle Company (Video available from the Kansas Geographic Alliance).

Procedures:

1. Brainstorm and generate a list of wise water use practices such as:
   ­ shut off the hose while you soap the car
   ­ don't let the water run while you brush your teeth
2. After developing the list, ask students if they lived in an area with little rainfall and few rivers or streams, whether or not the list would change, or would they prioritize anything on the list Guide students to understand that water-saving faucets and toilets might be applied in the home, different types of landscaping might be encouraged (xeroscaping or dry-land landscaping, which uses more rock and different types of vegetation, as well as buffalo grass, for lawns). Each household's water use might be rationed also.
3. Give students a precipitation map of Kansas and have them mark their hometown, Hays, and Garden City.
4. Compare the precipitation for the three areas and discuss why using water wisely is an especially good idea if your home is in a dry area like Garden City or Hays.
5. Using the map of the High Plains Aquifer (referred to as the Ogallala Aquifer) in Kansas, help students realize that whereas Hays is not reached by the aquifer; Garden City is. Is the aquifer located beneath the student's home town?
6. How might the Ogallala Aquifer benefit a town that is not near a dependable source of surface water? (The Arkansas River is not a dependable source of surface water.) How could the water be brought to the surface? Be sure that students understand that water pumped out of the Ogallala Aquifer is expensive because of the pumps and the electricity needed to run the pumps. Garden City is dependent on the Ogallala Aquifer for water. Homeowners, as well as industries and farmers, use water from the Ogallala Aquifer for all their needs. Although the Ogallala Aquifer contains enough water to fill Lake Huron, people in eight states use the water. Therefore, everyone should use the water prudently.
7. Explain that wise use of Ogallala Aquifer water is practiced at the Reeves Cattle Company.
8. View the video or slides about the Reeves Cattle Company. While viewing, have students to sketch the path of the water used at the Reeves Cattle Company.
9. After the video, put students into small groups and ask each group to use its notes to generate a diagram of how water is used on the Reeves Cattle Company. A sample diagram is included with this lesson. Have a spokesperson from each group explain the group's diagram. Discuss how the Reeves Cattle Company makes wise, economical use of its pumped water.
10. Challenge each group to create another industry at the Reeves Cattle Company that would further use the water. (Hydroponic gardening is being considered. Water rich in fish emulsion is excellent fertilizer.) You may want to send any other viable ideas to the Reeves Cattle Company.

Assessment:

1. Check procedure #3 to see that Garden City is properly located.
2. Check diagram accurately (procedure #9) and listen to student explanations.

Extensions:

1. The student will write a paragraph demonstrating the possible far-reaching economic effect of Reeves Cattle Company.
2. Review economic terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary activities.
3. Using the group's original diagram or the one included with the lesson, have the group classify each water use with an economic term. Pumping the water, growing the alfalfa, and raising the cattle are primary activities. The other products, corn mash, corn alcohol, ethanol, and the fish farm, are secondary economic activities.
4. Have students work to find tertiary economic activities that would be involved at the Reeves Cattle Company (selling the products, insuring the workers, transporting any product or receiving any product ­ the corn ­ by transport, homes the ranch employees live in, the station which sells the ethanol, the grocery from which the employees buy food, etc.). Help students realize the possible far-reaching effects of the Reeves Cattle Company.
5. Students should return to a map of Kansas counties and mark the Reeves Cattle Company in Finney County; then indicate other areas that hypothetically could be economically affected by the Reeves Cattle Company. Could the beef be distributed in a grocery store near the student? Could the gas tank of the family car have recently received ethanol from the Reeves Cattle Company?

Extension Assessment Activities:

1. Have each group draw its extended web on a transparency and explain it to the class.
2. Using pictures from print material, have each group make a collage illustrating the primary, secondary, and tertiary economic activities that stem from an industry.
3. Have students write a paragraph explaining the consequences which would occur if the Ogallala Aquifer were to be unable to sustain activities at the Reeves Cattle Company.

Diagram

Click on desired Diagram for a larger view

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FHSU Geoscience | Kansas Geographic Alliance
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e-mail: pphillip@fhsu.edu

irc staff 11/28/97 (updated kn 06/18/99) Disclaimer