Watersheds: Stewardship & Climate Change

• In this activity, students will decode information about the effects of climate change on watersheds from the EPA and NOAA websites. 
• This resource includes a lesson plan, a student handout, a student worksheet, and a PowerPoint presentation. 
  

Positives

• The lesson plan offers a variety of questions for different academic subjects.
• This lesson can be presented in a classroom or virtual setting. 

Additional Prerequisites

• Teachers must create a free account to access the materials. 
  
• Teachers may want to go over this handout on analyzing media messages before students complete the worksheet.
• The lesson plan refers to a "constructivist media decoding process;" these materials will help teachers to understand the goals and design of the lesson.

Differentiation

• Students could respond to questions individually or in small groups before discussing the questions as a class.
• The reading for this activity is a bit dense, so a structured reading process may help some students.
• Other resources on this topic include this video about the impact of human activity on the water cycle, these lessons on investigating local watersheds, and this interactive map that shows how raindrops travel through waterways.

There is no contradiction in the model used in explaining the impact of climate change on watersheds and on the hydrological cycle. This resource is recommended for teaching.