N OW I N T H E AT E R S
DUST BOWL PLANET
OVERVIEW
AUTHOR INFO
Description:
Students look at the historic Dust Bowl and the impacts of human activity on the
environment and climate change to explore the possibility of a Dust Bowl on a
global scale.
Will Kimbley
Twitter: @willkimbley
Google+: +WillKimbley
Standards Met:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.5:
Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats,
including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to
express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6:
NGSS MS-ESS3-3:
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing
and to interact and collaborate with others.
Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and
minimizing a human impact on the environment.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7:
NGSS MS-ESS3-5:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on
focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise
in global temperatures over the past century.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4:
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that
listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization,
development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
P R E PA R AT I O N
Ages/Grades:
Grades 6-8
Objective(s) covered:
• Research
• Critical thinking
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
Materials:
• Internet connected computers
• Human Impacts on Earth Systems (YouTube
video)
• ESSEA: Dust Bowl - Is climate change starting
another?
• USA Today: Does the Dust Bowl stack up to
today’s disasters?
• The History Channel: The Dust
Bowl
• Google Tour Builder
-Google Tour Builder
how-to video
© 2014 Paramount Pictures © 2014 Warner Bros. Ent.
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Time needed:
2 class periods
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
Opening:
Pre-activity:
Students watch the Bozeman Science video Human Impacts on Earth Systems before
class. Distribute the video to student Android devices via the Google Play for Education
store or give students the link to the YouTube version.
Opening:
The Dust Bowl was one of the worst ecological disasters in US history. Humans have had
an indisputable impact on the planet’s climate. What are the future consequences? In
the movie Interstellar the world is going through a severe global food shortage caused
by environmental changes that in a number of ways parallels the Dust Bowl. Is a repeat
of the Dust Bowl on a global scale a possibility?
Students will research the causes and impact of the Dust Bowl as well as the impacts
of human activity on the environment and climate change to explore the possibility of a
Dust Bowl on a global scale.
Activity:
Part 1
Students read web articles and watch videos on the Dust Bowl and climate change taking
notes on what they discover.
Articles:
• ESSEA: Dust Bowl - Is climate change starting another?
• USA Today: Does the Dust Bowl stack up to today’s disasters?
• The History Channel: The Dust Bowl (multiple articles and videos)
Part 2
Using a their research students will make predictions about what effects climate change
will have in the future.
Closing/assessment:
Using Google Tour Builder students will map their predictions of climate
change and discuss as a class.
© 2014 Paramount Pictures © 2014 Warner Bros. Ent.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM
Google Play for Education is a content store built just for schools, making it easy for teachers to find and share
educator-approved apps, books, and videos with their students.
If your school is using managed Chromebooks or Android tablets, you can use Google Play for Education to
distribute the following apps, books, and videos, and take the lesson further.
App/Book/Video:
Human Impacts on Earth Systems
Description:
Paul Andersen explains how humans are impacting the Earth through farming, mining,
pollution and climate change.
App/Book/Video:
Drought and Desertification
Description:
This video considers the causes of droughts and desertification and the role of
humans, compares differences of vulnerability between different groups of people, and
researches management strategies using case studies.
App/Book/Video:
WolframAlpha (Android App)
Description:
This powerful research tool accesses thousands of domains and uses a vast collection
of algorithms and data to compute answers and generate reports.
App/Book/Video:
The Grapes of Wrath
Description:
John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the
1930s and tells the story of a family driven from their homestead and forced to travel
west to the promised land of California.
© 2014 Paramount Pictures © 2014 Warner Bros. Ent.
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