Originally published in TEACH Magazine, May/June 2016 Issue
By Meagan Gillmore
This round of hopscotch is for life.
It appears typical at first—students jumping down a hopscotch court, but they are all holding empty cups in their hands and filling them with water from a large jug at the end of the court. But the water’s dirty, definitely unfit for drinking. It might have some use for agriculture. Students will have to determine how to use it and they need to decide quickly because soon, these Grade 5 and 6 students will be elsewhere, perhaps learning about hydroelectricity or measuring acidity in water.
It’s all part of the H2O Zone, one area of the Kids’ World of Energy Festival. Kids’ World of Energy is run by Relay Education, a national organization that offers education about renewable energy, and while the festival itself began in 2008, this area, devoted entirely to water, was new for 2016. Students are meant to enjoy the games, but having fun isn’t the main goal. The hopscotch course represents the political and economic barriers many communities must overcome to access water. When they do reach it, they find it’s undrinkable.
Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.
