Desalination Design Challenge: 05 Salty Solutions

In this lesson, students explore how nature removes salt from water and apply this understanding to the design of a sustainable desalination device. Students examine biological strategies used by animals and plants to manage salt, learn about three main desalination methods (crystallization, filtration, and distillation), and review evaporation using particle models. Working in teams, students use the engineering design process to sketch an evaporation-based desalinator and create particle models that explain how fresh water is produced. This lesson lays the conceptual foundation for prototype construction and testing in the final lesson of the unit.