Procedures:

1. Read the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill. Ask: "How did Jack and Jill try to get water?" Discuss why Jack and Jill "tumbled" down the hill.
2. Present the problem-solving situation: "Jack and Jill need your help to 'fetch' a pail of water from a well. You can help by getting 5-gallons of water down a hill without spilling it and without you tumbling down the hill."
3. Place all of the containers on a table. Go outside (preferably on a hill) to simulate Jack and Jills' situation. (Place one full five-gallon pail at the top and one empty five-gallon pail at the bottom.)
4. Students work in teams of two-to-four to think of ways to transport a five-gallon bucket of water down a hill, so that no water is spilled, no one falls down, and all team members participate.
5. Trial: As each team tries to transport the five-gallons of water, the teacher acts as facilitator-- allowing each team to devise its own plan and solution to the problem. (Forming a "bucket brigade", may or may not be a team's solution).
6. Once each team has had ample opportunity to solve Jack and Jill's problem, the team presents its solution to the group. Teams model how they got 5-gallons of water down the hill.
7. Each team's trial can be timed and each bucket measured to determine the "best" (most efficient) solution. Results can be charted on a class bar graph.
8. Teams model the "best" solution, and record each team's time.
9. Students illustrate a picture book of Jack and Jill solving their water problem.
10. Students discuss with parents and other adults how water was transported in the past and is carried to homes today.

Evaluation

1. Assess student participation in team activities and discussion.
2. Check student abilities to read the class graph.
3. Evaluate student input from discussions with adults and picture book of Jack and Jill's story.

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