Climate Change and the Water Cycle
10-hour Unit
Target audience: 6th-12th Grade Students
Increased temperatures and altered precipitation will make water, a limited resource in the arid southwestern United States, even scarcer in many locations. With the aim of fostering climate literacy in our future citizens, we partnered with the USDA Southwest Climate Hub to create an engaging, fun, and scientifically rigorous education unit for 6-12th grade students. It is aligned with Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.
Click the icons below to watch brief instructional videos to learn how to conduct select lessons from the Climate Change and the Water Cycle Unit.
Insulating You, Insulating Earth: Examining the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
To model the enhanced greenhouse effect, students conduct an experiment using their own body heat, thermometers, towels, and space blankets.
Educator guide (PDF)
Insulating You, Insulating Earth handout (PDF)
Insulating You, Insulating Earth presentation (PowerPoint)
Insulating You, Insulating Earth (instructional video)
Weather or Climate? You Decide!
Students use their understanding of the definitions of weather and climate to identify which of the two concepts is better represented by several figures that are presented during the activity.
Educator guide (PDF)
Weather or Climate? You Decide! handout (PDF)
Weather or Climate presentation (PowerPoint)
Activity figures (PDF)
Understanding the Difference: Do the American Public and Media Understand Weather and Climate?
Students read a short article and examine selections from the media to determine whether the American public and media tend to understand the difference between weather and climate.
Evaporation Investigation setup
This activity is completed over four days. Students conduct an experiment to investigate the effects of various factors on the rate of evaporation.
Educator guide (PDF)
Evaporation Investigation handout (PDF)
Evaporation Investigation (instructional video)
The Water Cycle Game
Students play the roles of reservoirs and hydrologic processes to illustrate the movement of water in the water cycle.
Educator guide (PDF)
Water Cycle diagram color (PDF)
Water Cycle diagram black and white (PDF)
Bin labels color (PDF)
Bin labels black and white (PDF)
Water Cycle Game presentation (PowerPoint)
Water Cycle Game (instructional video)
Streams and Steam: Effects of Climate Change on the Water Cycle
Students play a Chutes-and-Ladders-style board game to understand the effects of climate change on the water cycle.
Educator guide (PDF)
What is Happening to Our Water? handout (PDF)
Streams and Steam handout (PDF)
Streams and Steam game board color (PDF)
Streams and Steam game board black and white (PDF)
Water Cycle diagram color (PDF)
Water Cycle diagram black and white (PDF)
Streams and Steam presentation (PowerPoint)
Streams and Steam Extension Activity (PDF)
Ready, Set, Grow: How Does Climate Change Affect Primary Producers?
Students play the roles of water-intensive and drought-tolerant plants to understand the impacts of climate change on water, primary producers, and the food web.
Rainout Shelters: How Does the Availability of Water Affect Plant Growth in the Desert?
Students analyze data from a desert field experiment to examine the effect of water availability on plant growth.
Climate Data Jam: Communicating Climate Data to Non-scientists
This activity is completed over four days. Students analyze and then showcase climate data by developing a creative project to communicate data trends to nonscientists.
Spanish Handouts
PDF: Cambio climatico y el ciclo del agua
PowerPoint: Como aislarte y como aislar la Tierra
PowerPoint: Tiempo o clima: tu decides
PowerPoint: El ciclo del agua
PowerPoint: Corrientes y vapor
Excel: Grafica del juego (En sus marcas, listos, a crecer)
PowerPoint: Data Jam Climatico