Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin

Overview

In this virtual workshop, we will review strategies for how to facilitate the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle in your middle and high school science classrooms. Participants will engage with the teaching materials (teacher guide, slide deck, student worksheet, and answer key) from both the teacher and student perspective and upon completion, be prepared to implement the Data Puzzle in their classroom.

Participants seeking a 3-hour PD certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder for completing the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin virtual PD should submit their answers to the questions/tasks below using this Google Form

Please email jonathan.griffith@colorado.edu when you have submitted your Form.

Data Puzzles infographic

What are Data Puzzles?

Data Puzzles combine classroom-friendly datasets with the research-backed instructional practices of Ambitious Science Teaching to help students make sense of the natural world. If this is your first time learning about Data Puzzles we encourage you to read through our Instructional Framework page on the Data Puzzles website so that you can understand how the Ambitious Science Teaching instructional practices are integrated into these sensemaking lessons.

About the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle

Declining water levels in two of the largest reservoirs in the United States, Lake Powell, and Lake Mead, provide visible evidence for the 2000-2021 megadrought (a period of extreme dryness that lasts for decades) in the Colorado River Basin. Scientists studying weather and climate in this region are analyzing temperature and precipitation patterns over time to determine the root cause of the ongoing megadrought. After analyzing authentic datasets, students come to the conclusion (as scientists have also done), that rising temperatures and the resulting increase in evapotranspiration rates are largely responsible for the megadrought in the Colorado River Basin.

Between 2001 and 2015, Lake Mead’s water surface elevation dropped by over 143 feet. Image from the National Park Service.

Instructional Overview

Grade levelMiddle and High School
Instructional time~120 minutes
Investigative questionWhat is causing the megadrought in the Colorado River Basin?
Science ideas
  • Water cycle
  • Natural disasters
  • Climate change
NGSS connections

Disciplinary Core Ideas

  • ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

Science and Engineering Practices

  • Analyzing and interpreting data
  • Constructing explanations

Crosscutting Concepts

  • Cause and Effect
  • Stability and change

Pre-workshop tasks

The Data Puzzle includes three main components, it is important to understand the differences between the materials. BEFORE you dive into the virtual workshop, please complete the following tasks:

  • Open the teacher guide. Note that the teacher provides some short facilitation tips and some additional materials you can use to differentiate the curriculum.
  • Flip through the slide deck. Note that the opening scenario is only on the slides, not on the student worksheet. 
  • Print the student worksheet. Note that the student worksheet has the background reading and space for students’ models. 

Part 1: Eliciting Students' Ideas

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Overview Video

The goal of this first Data Puzzle practice is to elicit student resources (ideas, experiences, and language) about an opening scenario (e.g., prompt, image, demo, video) that encourages students to think about a science idea in the context of their own life before they explore this same science idea in the context of the Data Puzzle. Note that Part 1 (Opening Scenario) does not appear on the student worksheet. Instead it is meant to be facilitated before the student worksheet is distributed to students (see slides and teacher guide).

The following video is an overview of the Eliciting Students’ Ideas practice in the context of the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle and includes facilitation strategies and discourse moves.

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Why it's important

Student resources (ideas, experiences, and language) serve as the foundation upon which new science ideas can be reconstructed and reorganized. Revealing these resources expands the range of ideas available to the entire class and allows teachers to adapt further instruction to help connect student resources to new and abstract science ideas. Find more information about the Eliciting Students’ Ideas practice here.

Now that you understand the goal of the Eliciting Students’ Ideas practice and have heard some tips about how to facilitate the opening scenario, it’s time for you to think about how you might implement this practice in your own classroom by reflecting on the opening scenario and “Stop and Think” questions below.

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Stop and Think

  • How do you think your students will respond to this opening scenario prompt?
  • When facilitating a discussion about this opening scenario prompt, what key ideas might you listen for and mark to be used as a resource later in the Data Puzzle?

Connecting student resources to the Data Puzzle

After bringing out student resources about the opening scenario, it’s important to help students make connections between the opening scenario and the science investigation they are about to engage with in the Data Puzzle. Embedded in the slide deck are specific discussion prompts to help students make these connections and a slide (see below) that introduces the hydrologist featured in the Data Puzzle who is trying to figure out the cause and impact of the current megadrought in the Colorado River Basin.

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Stop and Think

How can you support your students in making the connection between the droughts they've experienced and the current megadrought in the southwestern United States?

It's time to learn more about the featured scientists’ research by engaging with the interactive reading as part of the next practice, “Identifying Important Science Ideas."

Part 2: Identifying Important Science Ideas

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Overview Video

In this practice, students engage with an interactive reading that we call the “puzzle plot”. The goal of this practice is to have students explore new science ideas they’ll need to explain a question the featured scientist(s) are investigating .

  • At this point teachers should distribute the student worksheet to be used for Parts 2, 3, and 4.

The following video is an overview of the Identifying Important Sciences Ideas practice in the context of the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle and includes facilitation strategies and discourse moves.

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Why it’s important

Many science ideas are abstractions that go beyond the students’ personal experiences and current understandings. These abstract ideas must be presented by teachers (direct instruction) as tools students will reason with as they seek to make sense of the investigative question featured in the Data Puzzle’s interactive reading. Find more information about the Identifying Important Science Ideas practice here.

Now that you understand the goal of the Identifying Important Science Ideas practice and have heard some facilitation strategies, it’s time for you to think about how you might implement this practice in your own classroom by completing a series of tasks and reflecting on the “Stop and Think” questions below.

Interactive Reading

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Workshop task

Read and annotate the Puzzle Plot text - see student worksheet

Note that you may want to print and annotate the student worksheet directly if you are planning to submit the worksheet to receive a PD certificate.

Instructions: Open the Student Worksheet and read the Puzzle Plot text, pausing to watch each of the embedded videos. When reading the text, be sure to complete the following tasks (just as your students would do):

  • Circle the investigative question the scientists are seeking to answer
  • Underline similarities between the reading and the opening scenario
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Stop and Think

  • How might you engage your students with this interactive reading? Would you have students read the text individually? Or would you, the teacher, read the text aloud to the whole class pausing to watch each of the videos together?
  • Would you incorporate close reading strategies that you may already use in your classroom?
  • How can you support students in identifying similarities and making connections between the science ideas presented in the puzzle plot text and the science ideas that were elicited from the opening scenario?

Summarize Student Ideas

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Workshop task

Summarize science ideas - see student worksheet

Instructions: After facilitating a discussion to help students make connections between the ideas presented in the text and the student resources elicited during the opening scenario, it’s time to summarize these important science ideas by completing questions #1-3 (included below) on your student worksheet.

  1. Draw and describe the relationship between temperature and evapotranspiration
  2. Record the investigative question
  3. Make a prediction (based on evidence from the text) about the investigative question
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Stop and Think

  • Would you have students work individually or in pairs to complete the student worksheet?
  • What challenges might your students encounter when making a prediction about the investigative question?

It's time to test your prediction for the investigative question by analyzing and interpreting a dataset collected by the featured scientist(s) as part of the “Supporting Ongoing Changes In Thinking" practice.

Part 3: Supporting Students Ongoing Changes in Thinking

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Overview Video

The goal of this practice is to provide students with an opportunity to test their initial predictions/understandings for the investigative question against real data.

The following video is an overview of the Supporting Ongoing Changes in Thinking practice in the context of the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle and includes facilitation strategies and discourse moves.

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Why it’s important

Students apply their knowledge to analyze and interpret an authentic dataset and understand that their explanations will likely have changed over time in response to new evidence. Find more information about the Supporting Ongoing Changes in Thinking practice here.

Now that you understand the goal of the Supporting Ongoing Changes in Thinking practice and have heard some facilitation strategies, it’s time for you to think about how you might implement this practice in your own classroom by completing a series of tasks and reflecting on the “Stop and Think” questions below.

Introducing the dataset

Analyzing data is a challenging task for many students, especially when they  have not collected the dataset themselves.  What does a point represent? What do the axes mean? It’s important for students to be able to answer these and other questions BEFORE they are asked to identify patterns in a dataset.

The datasets above show the average temperature and precipitation for the Colorado River Basin from 1900-2021. Data was curated from NOAA Climate at a Glance.

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Stop and Think

  • How might you introduce the Colorado River Basin temperature and precipitation datasets to your students? Consider using these prompts:
    • In which year did the highest average temperature/precipitation take place? 
    • In which year did the lowest average temperature/precipitation take place?
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Workshop Task

Identifying Patterns - see student worksheet

After facilitating a class discussion about the dataset, it’s time to identify patterns in the data and revise your prediction (based on evidence from the graph) for the investigative question by completing questions #4-6 on your student worksheet.

Teacher Tip

We recommend creating a list of Back Pocket Questions (BPQ) that you could use as you move from table to table to help students focus on the task, recall earlier class discussions about a particular science idea, or to challenge students to connect any patterns they’ve identified back to the investigative question. See this practice document (page #4) for example BPQs.

Part 4: Constructing Evidence-Based Explanations

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Overview Video

The goal of this practice is to help students finalize new understandings as they relate to the investigative question presented in the Data Puzzle by constructing an explanatory model (annotated sketch).

The following video is an overview of the Constructing Evidence-Based Explanations practice in the context of the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle and includes facilitation strategies and discourse moves.

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Why it’s important

This final step allows students to pull together different ideas and bodies of evidence to revise and advance their current explanations for the investigative question. Find more information about the Constructing Evidence-Based Explanations practice here.

Now that you understand the goal of the Constructing Evidence-Based Explanations practice and have heard some facilitation strategies, it’s time for you to think about how you might implement this practice in your own classroom by completing a series of tasks and reflecting on the “Stop and Think” questions below.

Introducing Scientific Models

After gathering evidence (interactive reading and temperature/precipitation data interpretation), it’s time for students to construct a final model to explain the investigative question, “What is causing the megadrought in the Colorado River Basin?” But what even is a model? If your students have not constructed a model in your classroom, use the slide deck to introduce the concept of a scientific model and to facilitate a discussion around what should be included in a model and what a model should look like.

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Workshop Task

Construct your final explanatory model - see student worksheet

After introducing scientific models, it’s time to construct your own model to represent the investigative question, “What is causing the megadrought in the Colorado River Basin?”. First, create a list of ideas and evidence that you just “gotta-have” in your final model. Then, refer to this list (also known as a “gotta-have checklist”) to construct your final explanatory model.

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Stop and Think

  • Sometimes it’s helpful to develop the “gotta have checklist” together as a whole class before students construct their models. Do you think that your students would benefit from this level of scaffolding?
  • What challenges might students encounter when constructing their final models?
  • After students have constructed their final explanatory models, consider having students share their models with a partner, as a table group, or as a whole class via a gallery walk. What might this look like in your classroom?

Teacher Tip

After students construct and share their models representing the cause of the current megadrought, watch NASA’s “Megadroughts Projected for the American West” video to see what NASA scientists are predicting about future megadrought conditions in the United States.

Digging Deeper Questions

After students construct their final models for the investigative question, we challenge students to apply these new science ideas to new situations (e.g., social justice issues, climate solutions, or related phenomena) through a “Digging Deeper” question(s). We encourage you, the facilitator, to use these questions as is or adapt them to connect to topics you’ve previously covered in class or other local phenomena.

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Workshop Task

Digging Deeper questions - see student worksheet

Respond to question #9 on your student worksheet to consider what factors other than precipitation and temperature (evapotranspiration) are likely contributing to the decline in water levels across the Colorado River Basin? 


Then, watch the VICE News film “40 Million People Rely on the Colorado River, and Now It’s Drying Up” to learn more about excessive water use by humans is contributing the declining water levels in the Colorado River.

Teacher Tip

Review the “Additional Teacher Materials and Extensions” section on the last page of the teacher guide for more information about the work presented in the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle and extension materials including NOAA data interactives, videos, and podcasts.

Conclusion

The Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle is NOT intended to be an activity that is distributed to the student to be completed as homework. Instead, it is meant to be a collaborative effort by the teacher and students to make sense of new science phenomena. Before implementing the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle in your classroom it’s important to review all of the materials available to you (teacher guide, answer key, slide deck) and to be prepared to facilitate lots of small group and whole class discussions!

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Stop and Think

  • What challenges might you and/or your students encounter when engaging with the Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin Data Puzzle?
  • How will you move back and forth between the instructions and discussion prompts included in the slide deck and tasks students must complete on their worksheets?
  • Where might this Data Puzzle fit into your existing curriculum?
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Professional Development Certificate

To receive a PD certificate for completing this virtual workshop, please upload your completed student worksheet as a PDF to this Google Form. The Form also includes several questions designed to challenge you to articulate how you would implement this lesson in your classroom.