WOODROW WILSON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE INSTITUTE RUTGERS 1998

 

Effects of Global Warming on Watersheds

General Information:

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation gathered forty-six environmental science teacher leaders from all over The United States to study the possible effects of global warming on a seven different sub categories. The Rivers Team includes seven of theses teachers who, along with our advisor Jim Miller, have been studying the possibility of global warming reducing the amount of fresh water available for consumption. We studied at Rutgers from June 27 to July 24, 1998. Our travels include a canoe and hiking trip to the Delaware Gap and a field trip to New Brunswick's Water Utility Plant.  We also used Stella modeling to make possible predictions related to individual watershed areas and we attended round table discussion groups related to this topic.

Through our experiences we have located some links to help other teachers use the internet for content instruction related to global warming and water availability in the future. We have also developed a lesson plan to assist individuals in this area. We are not experts by any means, but we are teachers attempting to help other teachers. Hopefully, this site will be of use to teachers and students. 

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Lesson Plan

Watersheds and Climate Change Research

Objective: Using the internet as a tool for inquiry based learning to understand water availability, relative to climate change.

National Science Standard:

Assessment Standard B:

• Achievement and opportunity to learn science must be assessed.
• Achievement data collected focus on the science content that is most important for students to learn.
• Opportunity-to-learn data collected focus on the most powerful indicators.
• Equal attention must be given to the assessment of opportunity to learn and to the assessment of student achievement.

 

[ See Content Standards B[K-4] [5-8] [9-12] , C[K-4] [5-8] [9-12] , and D[K-4] [5-8] [9-12] (all grade levels)]

[See the principle Learning science is an active processing Chapter 2]

See the example entitled "The Insect and the Spider"
 

Materials:

• Computer with Netscape and Netscape Composer
• Excited teacher willing to take chances to allow for the enriched, educational experiences to take place

Procedure:

1. Students should be placed into groups, decide on a focus question, and organize themselves so that each member has a specific, goal oriented area to research.
2. After the research has been collected, students should discuss the information they found with all members of their group and discuss new ideas or things that were surprising. Discussion is very important. Students should take into account the source of their information. Ideas specific to sources evaluation can be found at Policy Issues. Make sure speaking and listening rules are clear to all participants prior to the discussion taking place. These rules could be created by the group or by the teacher.
3. At this point students should decide what they want their next step to be. The teacher should be available as a consultant and guide, but not the person with all the answers.

Possible focus questions might include:

• Is global warming really affecting the world?
• How might this affect the amount of water availability?
• Even if climate change cannot be proven, are there things people should be doing differently to make sure it doesn't happen?
Some project possibilities might be:
• Create some type of propaganda related to the topic in a way that would entice their peers.
• Create a radio show, allowing for callers (from the audience) to ask questions related to the located information and how the members processed this information. Source of information might be addressed by the radio announcers at this time.
• Students can create their own web site using Creating Young Own Personal Home Pages to reflect the ideas and discussion points that were brought up within the group. By consulting the technical support person in your building, this might be able to be turned into a chat room for students from all over the world who are interested in this topic too.
• Students could write an article for their school or local newspaper disseminating the views of their group related to this topic.
• Additional ideas could certainly be entertained by individual teachers. My experience has been that the students come up with the most creative ways to show me how much they know and produce quality work at the same time.
Assessments:

Individual assessment criteria will need to be created by teacher and group. A student/teacher created rubric is highly recommended. Rubrics should include content as the majority of the points, but presentation and quality of work should also be included. 

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Related Links:

• EPA Global Warming
• How Global Warming Occurs
• Mike Pyles Thoughts on Global Warming
• 1997 is Hottest Year on Record
• Potential Impact of Global Warming on the Lake Erie/St. Clair Basin
• Global Warming, if it Occurs, Could Lower Sea Level- July 1997
• Impact of Global Change on Water Resources and Water Use
• Icdweb Home Page: Creating Your Own Personal Home Pages
Additional Resources:

Wolock, David, Gregory McCabe Jr., Gary Tasker, and Marshall Moss. 1993. Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources in the Delaware. Water Resources Bulletin. American Water Resources Association River Basin, Vol.29, NO.3, pp. 475-486.

Team Home

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
CN 5281, Princeton NJ 08543-5281 Tel:(609)452-7007 Fax:(609)452-0066