Human Rights: Access to Water (Canada) An Integrated Math and Social Studies Lesson

Human Rights: Access to Water (Canada) - An Integrated Math and Social Studies Lesson

This teaching resource is designed for middle grades students (5th-8th grades). It combines the subjects of math and social studies into one integrated lesson about water, human rights, and the kind of world we want to live in.

The main focus: This lesson raises the question why all residents in Canada, especially in First Nations communities, don't have access to clean and drinkable water. While providing a basic understanding of human rights, it specifically examines water as a fundamental right.

Tasks Involved Include:

• Defining human rights in their own words

• Looking at the UN Declaration of Human Rights and putting some rights into their own words

• Thinking about why clean water is a human right

• A case study on current water quality advisories in British Columbia (link provided)

• Determination of part-to-part & part-to-whole ratios and percentages using live data

• Reflecting on the fairness of the current situation

• Calculation of personal daily water usage

• Determining how long it would take to boil one's required amount of water pot by pot

These tasks demonstrate the practical impact that math has on everyday life while shedding light on unfair access to clean drinking water. They require students to use critical thinking and applied math skills to tackle an important social issue.

Grades to Use With:

This lesson is designed for students in the middle grades (5-8) and can be used in math class when studying ratios and proportional relationships OR social studies class when studying indigenous issues and human rights.

What's Included:

4 Page PDF:

Title Page

Brief Overview of Human Rights and Water as a Specific Human Right

Case Study of Water Advisories in British Columbia, Canada

Math Application: How long would it take to boil all the water you use each day?