Social Studies Lesson: Causes of Water Scarcity
Lesson Plan
55 minutesGrades6, 7, 8Social Studies, English Language Arts
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Written by David Garnick
About this lesson
Students reflect on the role of water in Hawai‘i and read about the causes of water scarcity. While many of these causes affect Hawai‘i in unique ways, students can consider how these factors relate to their own local contexts.
Inquire: Students listen to a song about water and reflect on its meaning and relevance to water scarcity in Hawai‘i.
Investigate: Students read articles in groups, focusing on different causes of water scarcity, and discuss their findings.
Inspire: Students reflect on what they learned in the lesson to complete an Exit Ticket.
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Suggestions
- This lesson aligns with Hawai’i’s Nā Hopena A‘o HĀ-BREATH Framework.
- This lesson explores diverse voices in the context of Hawaiian culture, ensuring that students gain a holistic understanding of the cultural and environmental significance of water.
- This lesson emphasizes social justice by addressing how water scarcity impacts different communities in Hawai‘i and encouraging students to think about equitable solutions.
- The Investigate section can be completed in two class sessions with the reading portion of the lesson in one class and sharing the jigsaw information during a subsequent class period.
- This lesson focuses on the main causes of water scarcity in Hawai'i, but it can be extended to include other regions of the world, such as the Western United States, Europe, and Asia, to explore the global challenges and solutions related to water scarcity. Alternatively, teachers can connect to local or regional issues related to water scarcity.
- For teachers outside of Hawai‘i, students can identify which of the five causes lead to water scarcity in their region.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 3 in our 6th-8th grade Social Studies Unit: Water Scarcity in Hawai'i.
- Students should have a basic understanding of environmental concepts such as sustainability and natural resources.
- Students should be familiar with the significance of water in Hawaiian culture and the definition of water scarcity from Lesson 1 of this unit.
- If assigning partners or groups for the Jigsaw activity by interest or reading levels, teacher should have these pre-assigned.
- Teachers should review, prepare, and have ready the articles on the five topics related to water scarcity in Hawai'i: tourism, population growth, agriculture, pollution, and climate change.
- Teachers should print or have digital access to the student documents and graphic organizers.
- Teachers should be aware that some students might have personal experiences with water scarcity that could be sensitive.
Differentiation
- Use an open-source app like www.rewordify.com to change the Lexile level of the article without changing the content.
- As an extension activity, students can write an op-ed from the perspective of a stakeholder affected by water scarcity in their community, incorporating their research and analysis of the main causes.
- Teacher can assign this podcast, Why It Matters: Water Scarcity, as an extension for homework.
- Teacher can provide sentence starters or graphic organizers to assist students in structuring their written responses and annotations.
- In the Jigsaw activity, the article on Climate Change is short and written specifically for students in grades 5-8. The agriculture article is also short. These are good options to assign to students who struggle to access the longer newspaper article options.
From the scientist review
This lesson gives students the opportunity to investigate the causes of Hawaii's water crisis and think about potential solutions. The lesson passed our science credibility procedure after we evaluated it.
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About the teacher writer
David Garnick
David Garnick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Political Science. He has 2 years of experience teaching Social Studies, English Language Arts in grade 8. He is a Teach for America corps member
