This inclusive environmental ILS was designed implementing the scientific impact approach. The secondary school student explores bacteria and viruses in water (ground water, tap and river water). The Virus Explorer Lab helps to examine a diversity of viruses based on structure, genome type, and so on. Based on the investigation data and literature analysis students suggest a method of viruses elimination in water. Student learn how to write a laboratory report and to self-evaluate the work performed.

Learning Objectives:

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Analyze the viral lifetime in water.
• Describe different components and characteristics of viruses and their role in infection.
• Describe the ways in which viruses can differ from each other.
• Compare viruses size

The “Clean Water: Viruses in Water” learning activity may be used as a standalone project. However, for the comprehensive understanding of the wastewater maintenance, we recommend to perform Clean Water: Sanitation of Wastewater and Clean Water: Reuse of Grey Water. Secondary school students will cover the topics of the viruses and bacteria in different types of water, industrial wastewater treatment, and the reuse of the grey water.  

The principles of the universal design for learning (UDL) for inclusive learning are introduced in these materials.

Reviewer: Maria Luísa Almeida

This activity was developed in the framework of the InSTEAM project.