How is the H2O in your Plumbing?

By Platform Administrator · Submitted Sep 30, 2026

Content Area: Science and Technology/Engineering
Grade: 8

The task assesses students' capacity to present a claim supported with qualitative and quantitative evidence to express how heavy metals affect the natural world or human population and what can be done about their presence. Students select a water topic to write or perform a persuasive public service announcement (PSA). They research heavy metal elements found in drinking water, perform water experiments, and select a specific heavy metal found in water to focus on. Students then watch and discuss sample PSAs before creating a storyboard for their own PSA, creating and editing the PSA, and finally publishing and presenting it to an audience.

MA Standards

8.PS.1.2

Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred. Clarification Statements: Examples of reactions could include burning sugar or steel wool, fat reacting with sodium hydroxide, and mixing zinc with HCl. Properties of substances include density, melting point, boiling point, solubility, flammability, and odor.

8.PS.1.5

Use a model to explain that atoms are rearranged during a chemical reaction to form new substances with new properties. Explain that the atoms present in the reactants are all present in the products and thus the total number of atoms is conserved. Clarification Statement: Examples of models can include physical models or drawings, including digital forms, that represent atoms. State Assessment Boundary: Use of atomic masses, molecular weights, balancing symbolic equations, or intermolecular forces is not expected in state assessment.

RCA-ST.6-8.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, quoting or paraphrasing as appropriate. (See grades 6-8 Writing Standard 8 for more on quoting and paraphrasing.)

RCA-ST.6-8.7

Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).

SEP.7

Engaging in argument from evidence

Resources

Task Template (PDF) PDF · 181 KB
Task Template (Word) DOCX · 1.59 MB
Student Directions DOCX · 212 KB
Rubric DOCX · 1.54 MB
Resource: Planning Form DOCX · 325 KB
Resource: Claims and Evidence Worksheet DOCX · 116 KB

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