Connecting Climate Change to the Water Cycle

Grades6, 7, 8Earth and Space Sciences, Geography

Provided by New York DEP

What it is

In this lesson, students learn about the connections between climate change and the water cycle by creating graphs to show how precipitation and evaporation have changed over time in different locations.
Students present their work in a gallery walk and discuss what their research uncovered about changes to the water cycle, the impacts these changes have, and strategies to address the effects.

Positives

Students will explore human interactions with Earth systems and hone their systems thinking skills.
This interdisciplinary lesson incorporates Earth science, geography, and math components.

Additional Prerequisites

Each student group will need a computer with internet access.
If students make graphs by hand, each group will need poster paper, markers, and post-it notes.
Students should understand the basics of reading maps, graphing, climate change, and the water cycle.

Differentiation

Teachers can choose the scale of this lesson by assigning students specific areas globally, nationally, or locally.
The lesson is designed for New York City classrooms, but teachers can easily modify it for use in other cities by changing locations for research.
Students can create the graphs by hand on poster paper or digitally in Google Sheets.
The lesson includes an optional extension activity where students learn about the watersheds in upstate New York through a penpal program.
The lesson does not provide much instruction for students to create their graphs. Teachers should consider walking students through an example location as a class to help students understand how to interpret the NOAA maps, set up data tables, and create effective graphs.

This activity allows students to evaluate how climate change alters the water cycle. It is recommended for teaching.

Hosted on nyc.gov

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Grades: 6, 7, 8
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
Other types: Activity - Classroom
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: North America, North America > United States, North America > United States > New York, North America > United States > New York > New York
Provider: New York DEP
Authors: New York DEP
Published: February 6, 2024
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · MS-ESS3-1. + 11 more

Core Standards legacy

MS-ESS3-1.MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
MS-ESS3-2.MS-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
MS-ESS3-4.MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
D2.Geo.2.6-8D2.Geo.2.6-8 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
D2.Geo.10.6-8D2.Geo.10.6-8 Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.

Connecticut Climate Education Hub Standards legacy

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.
6.Geo.2.b.6.Geo.2.b. Explain the relationship between the locations of places and regional characteristics using maps and other representations (e.g., religious centers, Nile River flooding, sea level rise in Venice, New Northwest Passage).
7.Geo.10.a.7.Geo.10.a. Analyze how cultural characteristics vary among regions and shape diversity of local communities (e.g., cultural centers, diasporas, cultural universals, taboos, linguistics).
MS-ESS3-1.MS-ESS3-1. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth’s mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.
MS-ESS3-2.MS-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
MS-ESS3-4.MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.