Drought Affects California's Water Availability

LearningMedia, Public Broadcasting Service

In this resource, students learn about changes in water availability due to drought in California from 2013 to 2017. This resource provides opportunities for students to interpret data and analyze imagery for observational evidence of drought conditions through maps, satellite images, and photographs.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

It would be nice to couple this with images of climate in the area in which you live, since this focuses on California, but students may be interested in learning about climate and droughts where they live. The resource includes teaching tips with excellent suggestions including: "Search the U.S. Drought Monitor maps online to get current and past drought data for your state. Display or provide students with copies of maps for different time periods and have them interpret and analyze the data." Create a free account and download the visuals, as they are higher quality and include more information.
This resource offers three visuals, the first includes three maps of California's drought for three years 2013, 2015, and 2017. The second shows satellite imagery from those three years and the third shows lake levels for the years. The images are accompanied by background information that teachers can use to interpret the images. Concepts include understanding what is drought, and the impacts of drought on water supplies. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
The images offer three different ways to look at drought. Graphically, with satellite imagery, and through photographs. These images are simple, yet tell an interesting drought story. The resource provides strong supporting & introductory material for teachers and students. Learning outcomes should be easily attained. Students will be engaged in discussion and analyzing data.
Materials may be downloaded. The resource is visually clear in the downloadable version. Students and teachers may need a PBS Learning Media account to sign in to view the resource. Educators need to sign up as a teacher for PBS and then verify their email before logging in. There are instructions for the maps and data. Teachers need to click on the side support materials to get more information about the photos. Links to sharing & the lesson building tool are helpful.