Water Availability

In this activity, students take the role of data analysts of the World Water Resources Board (WWRB) a fictional organisation charged with providing financial aid to countries most in need of water. They will compare the availability of water in Algeria, Jordan and Turkey. Students will determine how to fairly compare the availability of water in these countries to determine who should receive aid and will recognise that a key aspect of data handling is determining the appropriate data to use to answer a question. Students will also find that appropriate analysis requires the creation of a compound measure, such as a per capita measure of water availability. This proportional measure requires combining measures of the available water and the total population of an area. It is important as it allows fair comparisons across countries of various sizes using a scalable measure. In solving the tasks students will use proportional reasoning and the application of ratio and proportion, units, compound measures and conversions, the handling data cycle, work on open and closed tasks in a variety of real and abstract contexts that allow them to select the mathematics to use, work on problems that arise in other subjects and in contexts beyond the school and to work collaboratively as well as independently in a range of contexts. To use this resource: • download the zip file • extract all of the files • run the start file