A local-scale climate change impact that will affect my site is the changes in precipitation patterns. In a previous post, I mentioned snow days and how changes in climate are changing the frequency, duration and intensity of storms. In this post, I am thinking more about the other side of that equation, and looking at decreased rainfall in summer and fall. This is an impact that my kids will definitely feel, and we usually start the year talking about the water cycle. So talking about how changes in climate change precipitation is a pretty easy connection. I could integrate this into a MWEE by doing some storm water management with them. We can determine our local watershed (and it's boundaries), and explore where water goes once it leaves our school property. We can do something with stormwater management (plant rain gardens? label storm drains?) to tie the pieces together. I would also like to have them do something with kids in the middle or elementary school. My kids can explain what we are doing and why it is important. That will help my kids solidify the concepts, and it will help the younger kids by teaching them the info at a young age.
Great ideas here, Kathy. Be sure to check out my reply in the Module 3 discussion because I still love that agricultural tie in that you mentioned before too. I think there are ways to make all of this work together... and I'm excited for you to use some of the MWEE planning tools during the workshop to flesh these ideas out more.
I've seen a few teachers who have had their high school students teaching upper elementary school kids about their findings during the synthesis and conclusions stage of the MWEE. It's really powerful for both classes and a great opportunity to discuss different communication techniques for different audiences.
I am also interested in including water studies into my IB ESS class, as well as my biology classes when I can.
I also really like the idea of reaching out to younger students! What a great way to have your students really learn!