Provided by: Council on Foreign Relations |Published on: September 11, 2023
Lesson Plans Grades 9-12, ap-college
Synopsis
In this section, students will learn what water scarcity is, how climate change is leading to increased water scarcity, and some possible solutions to combat this issue.
Students will read text and view visual aides to learn about some of the countries facing the most water scarcity around the world, how water consumption has increased, and what other negative impacts are associated with water scarcity.
This is the fifth section of the World 101 Climate Change module and includes a linked lesson plan for grades 9-12 and discussion guide for higher education classes.
The use of interactive visual aides helps students better understand the data associated with this topic.
This article also touches on the social inequities associated with weather events and water scarcity.
Additional Prerequisites
Some students may need the terms infrastructure, scarcity, pathogens, irrigation, and others defined prior to beginning the lesson.
There is a lesson plan and discussion guide linked at the top for teacher use. These resources are for the whole unit and do not have discussion questions or activities for this particular section.
Students should understand what climate change is, how humans are contributing to climate change, and some of the effects climate change has on the environment.
Differentiation
Math classes can download some of the data, analyze it, and answer questions about the many graphs provided in the article.
Students can choose a water scarcity solution to research further and write a speech or report about it to inform others about the solution.
Geography classes can have students choose a country with a water insecurity level of three or more and then research the effects of water scarcity and the possible solutions for that specific country.
If there are many students with low reading stamina, strategic grouping can be used to aid with comprehension.
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