Grade 10 Lesson plan
Longmeadow Watershed: How Long Water Stays in Each Reservoir
A 50-minute grade 10 lesson where students calculate residence time by dividing stored water by throughflow and compare reservoirs across the water cycle.
NGSS · High School (9–12)
HS-ESS3-6 Represent relationships among Earth systems modified by humans
Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
Clarification statement: Examples of Earth systems to be considered are the hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and/or biosphere. An example of the far-reaching impacts from a human activity is how an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide results in an increase in photosynthetic biomass on land and an increase in ocean acidification, with resulting impacts on sea organism health and marine populations.
Assessment boundary: Assessment does not include running computational representations but is limited to using the published results of scientific computational models.
Why water teaches this standard well
The hydrosphere and cryosphere are named among the Earth systems this standard represents, so shrinking snowpack, changing precipitation, and sea level rise are on-target. Students can use published model results to show how a warming atmosphere reshapes the water cycle that supplies their region.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , including its clarification statement and assessment boundary, and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
5 materials aligned to HS-ESS3-6
Lesson plans
Grade 10 Lesson plan
Ravenglass Basin Snowpack Decline: A Warming Water Cycle
A 50-minute grade 10 Earth systems lesson where students read model streamflow output to trace how a warming climate shifts a snow-fed basin's water supply.
Worksheets
Grade 9 Worksheet
Thornbury Ridge Snowpack: Water Equivalent and Spring Runoff
A grade 9 worksheet where students turn snow survey depths into snow water equivalent, scale them to basin runoff in acre-feet, and compare a warmer modeled year.
Writing prompts
Grade 12 Writing prompt
Shifting Snowmelt Timing in the Verdigan Basin
A grade 12 explanatory writing prompt using model output from a fictional mountain basin to explain why earlier snowmelt shrinks summer streamflow.
Quizzes & test questions
Grade 11 Quiz & test questions
Kellsworth Basin Water Cycle: A Watershed Budget Unit Test
A grade 11 unit test on the water cycle and a fictional watershed's budget, mixing multiple-choice, short-answer, and computation items on flows, storage, and recharge.