Articles
More than Just a Water Tank
By Phil Smith & Peta White
Infrastructure is more than a piece of equipment or a system. Gardens, energy-saving devices, waste management processes and infrastructure can all support quality teaching and learning opportunities.
Why install a water tank?
Schools are highly visible parts of our community. Putting in a water tank models to others in the community (families, neighbours, other organisations) that something can be done and that this organisation is taking action. Often infrastructure provides the easiest opportunities for change.
Day in and day out infrastructure demonstrates capacity, empowerment, and strength, and it affords opportunities for additional learning, including opportunities for hands-on participation by lots of people. Participation builds agency and a sense of self-efficacy. Students see that they not only can be a part of the solutions for effective water management, but that they are being a part of the solution.
Decisions followed by actions, like installing a water tank, model commitment to make change for environmental improvements and sustainability. Infrastructure does not simply appear from nowhere; instead, it should be the end result of many conversations, decisions and actions. It should include whole-school conversations about water use, values, responsibilities, pressures and expectations.
Investigations about water tank shapes and sizes, benefits and management requirements provide opportunities for engagement in real decisions. Location, use, other equipment…more discussion and investigation. The water tank provides opportunities to discuss and learn how systems work. How water is related to other environmental, social, economic and political issues. Talk of water is more than simply about how to save it (and money). It can open conversations about equity and well-being and health. A water tank can expose assumptions we make about water, and it can be used to reveal those things we simply take for granted.
Rich discussions could occur on how we think about the many dimensions of water. We can explore the different ways of thinking about water: Aesthetic, Chemical, Cultural, Economic, Emotional, Environmental, Historical, Legal, Physical, Technical, Social, Systems.