The students will write in response to the following prompts:

• What steps could we take to measure our school’s “water footprint”? 
• How could we reduce our school’s “water footprint”? 

The students will come together for a discussion about ways they could measure and reduce their school’s water footprint. During this conversation, the students will decide what they want to do and create a plan for how they’re going to do it.

EXAMPLE: To measure their school’s water footprint, the students decide that they want to conduct a schoolwide survey, as well as interview people like the principal, the lunch servers, and the janitors. They also decide that they want to wait for the results of their survey before choosing how they will take action. Finally, they assign different tasks to different students to set their plan in motion. 

The students carry out their plan for measuring and reducing their school’s water footprint. It is a good idea for them to divide up the required tasks. 

The students will write an essay based on the following prompts:

• What did we find out about our school’s water footprint? 
• What did we do to try to reduce our school’s water footprint?
• What skills did you learn/develop by completing this project? Provide specific examples. 
• What are some strengths and weaknesses of the plan we came up with? What went well, and what didn’t?
• Do you feel that the effects of our project will be long lasting? Why or why not?
• If we were to continue this project, what do you think the next step would be? How could we build on what we have already done?