HEART Force - Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Drought in Colorado

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder

In this lesson, students analyze and synthesize data about how drought is measured, how scientists expect drought to change in the future, and how we can mitigate the impacts of drought in our communities.

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Notes from our reviewers

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Teacher should familiarize themselves with data, videos, and other resources that students will be reviewing and interpreting ahead of time. This lesson connects to a drought game listed on the lesson website. This lesson could be facilitated in a virtual setting. Student handouts, teacher slides, and a plethora of additional resources are provided for the teacher to use.
In this lesson, students examine environmental and social factors that cause drought, analyze the indicators of drought, describe the impacts of drought on their community, and think about local drought preparation and response using resources such as the US Drought Monitor, NASA, and USGS. A wide variety of background information and resources are provided for students and teachers to dig deep into the topic. Resource developed in collaboration with expert scientists - no CLEAN expert science review was needed.
The lesson follows the 5E learning model, and encourages students to develop their own understandings from the scientific data that they analyze. Students share and synthesize information from multiple sources (e.g., news clips, expert interviews, text, data, maps) through several activities, including a jigsaw. The lesson culminates in a writing activity in which students design and present their local drought resiliency strategies in a letter to the editor. Both the teacher guide and student handouts are organized clearly and link to external resources, making it easy for the teacher and students to navigate the lesson. Teacher slides, materials lists, standards alignment, learning goals, key vocabulary, and suggestions for bringing experts into the classroom are all provided.
All links are active and current. No software is needed other than access to the internet. Lesson materials (student handouts, slides, videos, data, etc.) are provided as website links and are available to download. Lots of background information and resources are provided. Because links to online resources are also provided in the student handouts, prep time on the teacher's part should be minimal.