Creating a Design Process Experiment

Protecting from Soil Erosion

4-4-13 Use the design process to determine an appropriate system for controlling soil erosion in a given situation.

Scenario:

Sitting alongside the Red River, down at the Forks, you notice that river is brown and murky not clear and clean like you have seen at the lake.  Why is the water so brown and murky, why not clean and clear?

"SOIL EROSION!"

The soil has runoff into the river from wind, rain and human disturbance.  The City of Winnipeg has employed you to create a system that would protect the banks of the river from further erosion. Having already learned about the different methods for protecting against soil erosion, you must design a system using the materials given and demonstrate its use in a model of the river bank.  How would you design an effective system?

Materials:
plastic sheets
sticks
felt
strainers
plasticine

Implementation: 

If I used this in my classroom, I would first discuss the process of erosion and all the contributing factors to soil erosion.  Also I would introduce some systems that have been used around the world in order to combat this problem.  Then I would give my students the situation with a list of materials they could use and have them design a contraption, based off the given examples, and then test its results. Clearly stating that no one system will be better than the other and that science is all about trial and error.  I would allow them the opportunity to do further research on a particular system and give them guided instruction if they feel frustrated.
Its important to encourage students to formulate their own design process and make it unique to the situation. Design process is a integral part of science and scientific discovery.