Which is worse — drought or flooding? Neither is helpful to the environment, and both are increasing due to climate change. The 16th lesson in a series of 21 covers the average precipitation trends for two different climates within the United States. After reviewing data and validation approaches, scholars track the trends and the consequences of the immediate weather patterns and their association with climate change.

Concepts

droughts, rainfall, climate change, precipitation, climates, floods

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Use data from a more recent year to see if predictions from the end of the lesson came true

Classroom Considerations

• Requires prior knowledge of water vapor, the water cycle, and the difference between weather and climate
• Review latitude and longitude if pupils aren't instantly understanding the concept

Pros

• Includes a long list of links for the prerequisite knowledge, vocabulary, learning links, student resources, and further learning 
• Aligns to the National Science Education Standards, National Education Technology Standards, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Education Standards, Climate Literacy Principles, and Energy Literacy Principles
• Uses real data rather than sample data sets, making it more interesting

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.3 RST.9-10.4 RST.9-10.5 RST.9-10.7 RST.9-10.9 RST.11-12.3 RST.11-12.4 RST.11-12.5 RST.11-12.7 RST.11-12.9