Water and Farming
California is the largest agricultural producer in the country. Its farming success depends on three main natural resources: its climate, fertile soil, and the availability of massive amounts of water for irrigation. Previous instructional segments in this course have discussed the climate system and the source of its fertile soils. This instructional segment focuses on the availability of water and how humans have impacted that availability.
California Department of Education. 2018. 2016 California Science Framework Chapter 8. Sacramento, CA: California Department of Education, 1242.
Big Idea Success Criteria
The categories and their related standards below unpack the success criteria of this big idea.
Guiding Questions
- Why do droughts have such a strong impact on California and other parts of the world?
- How will changes in climate affect our water resources?
Performance Expectations Students who demonstrate understanding can do the following:
HS-ESS3-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity. [Clarification Statement: Examples of key natural resources include access to fresh water (such as rivers, lakes, and groundwater), regions of fertile soils such as river deltas, and high concentrations of minerals and fossil fuels Examples of natural hazards can be from interior processes (such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes), surface processes (such as tsunamis, mass wasting and soil erosion), and severe weather (such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts) Examples of the results of changes in climate that can affect populations or drive mass migrations include changes to sea level, regional patterns of temperature and precipitation, and the types of crops and livestock that can be raised ]
HS-ESS3-3. Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.[Clarification Statement: Examples of factors that affect the management of natural resources include costs of resource extraction and waste management, per-capita consumption, and the development of new technologies Examples of factors that affect human sustainability include agricultural efficiency, levels of conservation, and urban planning ] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment for computational simulations is limited to using provided multi-parameter programs or constructing simplified spreadsheet calculations.]
HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence, for both data and climate model outputs, are for climate changes (such as precipitation and temperature) and their associated impacts (such as on sea level, glacial ice volumes, or atmosphere and ocean composition) ] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to one example of a climate change and its associated impacts.]
HS-ETS1-1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
HS-ETS1-4. Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem *The performance expectations marked with an asterisk integrate traditional science content with engineering through a practice or disciplinary core idea.
Alternative Means of Expression
This big idea does not have created or curated examples of alternative means of expression due to the project scope and timeline. If you have example options you would like to share with the initiative team, please use the BYOT option.
Sample Coursework
Bring Your Own Task (BYOT)
A Call to IEP Teams
We want students’ IEP team members to share their ideas regarding viable alternative means of expression pertaining to this big idea for students with disabilities, including those eligible for the CAA, these teams serve. IEP teams can define viable alternative means of expression for an individual student with an IEP, as long as these mediums meet the local requirements of the coursework.
A Call to Content-based Educators
In addition to IEP teams, we know secondary teachers and district curriculum leads have a wealth of experience and ideas related to innovative ways to assess students’ understanding of this content. We are interested in sample alternative means of expression this community sees as viable assessments of this big idea.
Please use the entry boxes below to share these ideas.
Important Note —These assessment tools will not be shared outside the review of the initiative team and will remain the intellectual property of the users who have made this submission. Furthermore, feedback or comments from the initiative team will not be given to uploaded content, nor does uploading materials imply that the alternative means of expression strategy is a viable option for this big idea.
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