Explain to the class that living beings are dependent upon water for their survival and that the purpose of the activity is to explore this relationship from the perspective of an (African) animal of their choice.
Instruct the students to conduct some preliminary research and pick an animal for study whose habitat is in Africa. Should you prefer students to work in groups, ask them to select one of the following animals as a basis for group formation: Cheetah, Baboon, Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Eland, Kudu, Rhinoceros, Warthog, Waterbuck, Lion (suggestions only).
Ask students to do some research on the animal in order to answer these questions:
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Describe the animal, its habitat and where in Africa it is found (country, body of water).
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Describe the relationship between the animal and its habitat (i.e. ducks live in marshes because they need marsh plants for food and shelter and water for movement).
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Describe how the animal finds and uses water (drinking, bathing, cooling, etc).
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Identify any water issues (such as pollution, scarcity) that affect the health of this animal and its habitat.
4. Based on their research, have students, individually or in groups, create an advertisement (pamphlet, poster, magazine advertisement, TV or radio commercial) from the point of view of the animal, telling humans why water is important to them. Through the advertisement, students should try to convince (viewers, listeners, readers) to take action on the issue (conserve water, stop polluting, etc) to help protect their species. The advertisement should contain relevant information from the research phase of the activity.
5. Have students present their advertisement to the class.
