Teaching Tips

• This visualization could be applicable to any watershed, water cycle, geography, water use, water sources, and distribution lessons.
• Note that this resource does not directly connect with climate and energy, though knowledge of the water cycle is a fundamental concept for understanding climate cycles. A facilitator could use this resource when teaching about flooding impacts of climate change, hydroelectric power, and/or mitigation and adaptation strategies.
• Teachers should determine an area they want their students to focus on, and facilitate follow-up questions to help students take away new knowledge from this visualization.
• Teachers should provide context and guiding questions for student use.
• From this visualization, educators may also be able to develop a jigsaw activity where students compare drainage patterns from their location of interest and why the patterns vary.

About the Content

• In this resource, students learn about the relationship between precipitation and fresh water in the US.
• The data is from late 2020, so it is up to date as of the time of review.
• The data is from a reputable source, as it is pulled from a USGS (government-funded) project.
• Source code and data sources provided.
• Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.

About the Pedagogy

• This is a dynamic visualization that students can interact with, making it interesting and engaging.
• This visualization can be personalized to whatever information a student wants to see about how water moves geographically.
• Compare and contrast, patterns, systems analysis, creating models, and developing predictions are all teaching methods that would pair well with this visualization.
• Users have the flexibility to select anywhere in the US, thus making it more flexible and potentially relevant to them and their lives, making the activity all the more engaging.

• This resource engages students in using scientific data.
  See other data-rich activities

Technical Details/Ease of Use

• The visualization functions well, but users should be aware the screen can turn black if the speed is increased too quickly.
• An option for a whole-globe map is also available.

Related URLs These related sites were noted by our reviewers but have not been reviewed by CLEAN