For Schools

For school students & community groups

BASIC AQUALIBRIUM KIT

The Basic Aqualibrium Kit is recommended for use in schools

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In Schools

The Aqualibrium Challenge is an ideal STEM resource for teachers to use in both primary and secondary schools. Teachers use it to support a wide range of learning opportunities.

For instance, the learning objectives for primary school students may include:

  • understanding the urban water cycle,
  • how water gets to our taps,
  • where the water comes from
  • what happens once it goes down the drain, and
  • the importance of protecting our natural water sources.

For high school students, learning objectives may include:

  • concepts of physics (e.g. gravity and friction forces, and conservation of mass),
  • analogy with electrical circuit systems
  • mathematics (used to describe the physical phenomena),
  • how engineers apply these concepts to design water supply systems,
  • what the local urban water cycle looks like and what can be done to protect local water resources.

The download section includes free teaching resources to use with the Aqualibrium kit in the classroom.

BASIC AQUALIBRIUM KIT

School Outreach

The Aqualibrium Challenge is used for school outreach events by NGOs, professional institutes and educational organisations across the world.

The first ever Aqualibrium Challenge was hosted by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) in 2003 as a national schools competition as part of their centenary celebrations. Since then the Aqualibrium Challenge has become one of the most popular events on the annual SAICE calendar.


For school competitions, students are given a basic demonstration of the competition and then work in groups to find their best network designs. No prior knowledge is required and even primary school kids love this challenge!

BASIC AQUALIBRIUM KIT
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Key STEM Learning Opportunities

The Aqualibrium Challenge offers key STEM learning opportunities to students that include an understanding of:

  • the urban water cycle
  • causes of water pollution
  • how to protect waterways
  • water resource management
  • water as a scarce resource
  • efficient fit for purpose water use
  • the underlying physics concepts of pipe flow
  • water and wastewater treatment
  • mathematics to model pipe flow
  • careers in civil and environmental engineering

Key Skills

The Aqualibrium Challenge helps students to develop key skills including

  • critical thinking
  • creative problem solving
  • team work
  • communication

Downloads

Aqualibrium Judging Sheet

Click to download

Aqualibrium Challenge Rules

Click to download

Aqualibrium Background Picture

Click to download

Testimonials

  • “This is an excellent experience for everyone in the classroom, including the teachers. When students get these types of experiences, they engage in real-life thinking and hands-on learning, which teachers love to incorporate!  Thank you for providing such a valuable teaching tool!”

    Fiona Zawadzki, B.A. (hons), B.Ed, Educational Consultant/Certified Teacher, Skye Consulting, Canada

  • “The Northeast of Brazil has historically suffered from a lack of water. We use the Aqualibrium competition as a fun activity to teach children and young people about the need to conserve water. They always love to take part in the competition!"

    Thais Fontenele, Civil Engineering Student, Federal University of Ceará, Brazil

  • “I use the Aqualibrium competition to introduce high school students to the urban water cycle and water infrastructure systems. The hands-on nature of the activity helps students understand the design of water systems and what engineers do. The students have a great deal of fun while they gain valuable learning experience.”

    Dr Sangmin Shin, School of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA

  • “I use the Aqualibrium competition for different groups including elementary school and undergraduate students, and is always a great success! There are many learning possibilities and it is easy to adapt the Aqualibrium activity to achieve different objectives for different target groups (e.g. such science class or summer camp).”

    Dr Lina Sela, Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, USA

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