Grade 8 Lesson plan
Kettleback River Gauge: Forecasting a Flood Crest
A grade 8 science lesson in which students build a linear function from a fictional river gauge table, predict the flood crest, and test where the model fails.
NGSS · Middle School (6–8)
MS-ESS3-2 Analyze natural-hazard data to forecast and mitigate events
Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
Clarification statement: Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable.
Why water teaches this standard well
Floods are the water hazard students can forecast from real data, using river-gauge records and rainfall history to see how a storm becomes a crest downstream. Analyzing that data leads directly into the mitigation technologies utilities rely on: levees, detention basins, and flood warning systems.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , including its clarification statement , and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
3 materials aligned to MS-ESS3-2
Lesson plans
Worksheets
Grade 7 Worksheet
Bramford Brook's Storm Hydrograph: Peak Flow and Lag Time
A grade 7 science worksheet reading an hourly storm hydrograph from a fictional brook: baseflow, peak, lag time, percent recession, flood stage, and warning time.
Grade 6 Worksheet
Reading the Callan River Gauge: Netherby's Flood Crest
A grade 6 worksheet in which students summarize nine river gauge readings from a storm at Netherby and work out when the Callan River crossed flood stage.