In this lesson, students will become familiar with glaciers, how they form, move, and shape the land.

In Headlines and High Water, players take on the role of a young journalist in the fictional town of Twin Lakes, where the annual Cherry Festival is thrown into chaos by a catastrophic flood. The player is tasked with interviewing locals and writing stories to keep the town informed—all while staying safe during the town’s worst flood of the century.

Throughout the game, players build trust with the townspeople and interview a cast of quirky characters—like Birdie, the aptly-named nature conservationist, and Fred Finkler, the gardener who’ll talk your ear off. In the end, the player’s reporting will determine if Twin Lakes is still around a year from now, or if future floods wash the town right off the map.

This 10-lesson sequence designed for a sixth grade science course explores the following questions: How can humans lessen the harsh effects of extreme heat?How does surface cover affect surface temperature? / Why do different materials experience differences in surface temperature?How might human activities impact the temperatures in the different communities?How can humans mitigate the effects of heat islands?Using the framework from Dr. Gholdy Muhammad outlined in her book Cultivating Genius, each lesson pays special attention to looking at pursuits in identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy to support equity in the classroom. Please Remix this template for your purposes.

This curriculum guide contains pacing, instruction, and assessment guidance to accompany the OpenSciEd unit 7.6 Earth Resources & Human Impact. For schools who use Fisher and Frey's The Teacher Clarity Playbook, you'll find student-friendly learning intentions and success criteria for every lesson, drawn from the OSE three dimensional performance expectations. These can be posted on slides or boards in classrooms to make learning visible for students and help design assessment criteria.