Students of class 7d reported about German islands and drinking water to Australia during their chemistry lesson

It was the last class which had to present their documentation about several German islands and how people on these island get their drinking water.

Straight after our Easter break they met Anne Mirtschin, teacher of ICT accounting & business studies at P12 Hawkesdale College from Victoria, Australia, on 28th April to show her some pictures from German islands in the North Sea and in the Baltic Sea and let her know all the details about the different islands they gathered together by research in the internet and by direct connections to the water companies.

They reported about the East Frisian Islands and the drinking water lens below most of these island and about the only offshore island Helgoland (North Sea) where people get their water after desalination of sea water. The island Sylt represented the North Frisian islands. And they report about the island Usedom in the Baltic Sea, which is close to the Polish border.

They told her about some basic items like size, shape and population of the islands. The slides contain pictures with wonderful views about these islands as well as some pictures which gave hints to the drinking water supply.

A very important fact concerning the water supply was the number of tourists which visits the islands every year. These tourists are in number twice as many - or more - as the regular number of inhabitants. Tourism has a great impact on the water consumption to any of these islands.

They enlightened the history of some of these islands concerning the development of the drinking water supply technology and its tube network.

Comparing Climate diagrams from some islands and our home town the students pointed out the importance of rainfall to fill the natural reservoires below the surface.

Referring to some layers of the earth and to the geological history of the islands the students reported about the ingredients of the local drinking water.

After the students' presentation Anne told them about the drinking water situation in her area and how her family and all the animals living there get their drinking water.

The meeting took about 80 minutes time where my students learned a lot from Australia as well. Thank you, Anne, for being our guest during this chemistry lesson.

How do people on a German island get their drinking water?

This is one of the main problems students of grade 7 (three classes) have to face in their chemistry lessons at the moment. After checking the water supply of their hometown Sundern, they had to choose an island from Germany and find out how people of this island get their drinking water. First time ever they have prepared a digital presentation. First time ever they have prepared an English presentation they present to teachers and classes from abroad.

Each class has been split up into small groups of 2- 4 students. Each group has to prepare a research about one island. They present some pictures and information about the island and express technical, economical and geophysical aspects which impact the drinking water supply. Some island are built on sand, others are built on rocks and again others are built from farmland and they were seperated from the mainland throughout flooding.

Islands from the North Sea like Helgoland, Sylt, Föhr, Hallig Hooge and Pellworm, Langeoog, Juist, Rügen and Fehmarn from the Baltis Sea and many others were presented by wonderful pictures. They described the fresh water lens which is located below a number of the Fresian islands and how people on the island named Helgoland get their desalinisated water by reverse osmosis.

Difficulties has been faced because some companies do not offer any information about drinking water supply in the internet generally. So they called them by phone to get further information.

The students present the results of their research after they did a 5 minutes' skype meeting before with several teachers and classes to invite them joining their presentation.


(students are presenting the island of Juist)