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Knowledge/Skill Building

💧 Scarcity and Abundance Decisions

Content Expertise Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Effective Communication Collaboration Self Directed Learning Academic Mindset ESS.2.D ESS.1.C ESS.3.A ESS.2.C ESS.3.C ESS.2.A Product Assessment Reflection Core Content Project Launch Community Partners Essential Question Submission Required

Students rotate through hands-on stations that simulate unequal water access for cooking, sanitation, farming, transportation, and household use. After each scenario, they use water tokens, role cards, and decision logs to explain trade-offs and predict how settlement patterns might change. A short teacher-led synthesis connects these choices to Earth systems, human needs, and the project’s essential question.

Plan day
Day 2
Duration
90 min
Grouping
Small Group
Steps
8 steps

Lesson plan

8 steps · 90 min
# What teachers do
1 Launch the simulation by revisiting one observation from Diamond Valley Lake, introducing the driving idea that water access shapes where and how people live, and assigning teams, role cards, water tokens, and decision logs. (10 min)
2 Model one sample scenario as a whole group so teams see how to spend limited water tokens, record trade-offs, and predict how choices affect farming, sanitation, transportation, household use, and settlement stability. (10 min)
3 Rotate through Station Set 1 focused on household use and sanitation; teams read the scenario, make shared decisions with tokens, record what they prioritized and what they gave up, and complete a quick check-in naming one new academic insight and one collaboration shift. (15 min)
4 Rotate through Station Set 2 focused on cooking and farming; teams use role cards to argue for priorities, make a final token allocation, and note how water abundance or scarcity changes food production, daily life, and where people might settle. (15 min)
5 Rotate through Station Set 3 focused on transportation and trade; teams decide how to use water access for movement of people and goods, then log how their decision could affect community growth, safety, and connections to other places. (15 min)
6 Compare outcomes across teams in a standing share-out where groups post one major trade-off, one consequence of scarcity, and one consequence of abundance, then notice patterns in how different decisions changed settlement predictions. (10 min)
7 Lead a teacher synthesis connecting station evidence to Earth systems, water as a limited natural resource, and the essential question about how water shapes human life and settlement, while students add two ideas and one question to their logs for later exhibit use. (10 min)
8 Close with an individual written or audio reflection in which students capture one claim about water access and settlement, one link to Diamond Valley Lake, and one idea they want to test in the next mapping activity. (5 min)
Preparation (10 items)
  • Create 5 station scenario cards for household use, sanitation, cooking, farming, and transportation/trade, with both scarcity and abundance versions and clear token costs for each choice.
  • Prepare team water token sets in separate bags or containers so each group begins with the same amount and can quickly reset between station rotations.
  • Print or display role cards that represent different community perspectives such as farmer, trader, caregiver, sanitation worker, and community leader.
  • Make decision logs with spaces for token choices, trade-offs, consequences, settlement predictions, quick check-ins, and questions for future investigation.
  • Set up stations with simple materials that make the scenarios visible and hands-on, such as cups, containers, map icons, picture prompts, and instruction tents.
  • Post sentence stems for discussion and evidence-based talk, including prompts such as 'We chose ___ because ___' and 'If water became more or less available, then ___.'.
  • Prepare an anchor chart connecting Diamond Valley Lake observations to water storage, movement, human use, and settlement decisions.
  • Create a share-out space with chart paper or sticky-note posters labeled trade-offs, scarcity consequences, abundance consequences, and settlement shifts.
  • Plan teams intentionally to support participation and assign or preview norms for listening, turn-taking, and shared decision-making.
  • Set up a timer and rotation cues so transitions stay tight and all teams complete each scenario and reflection.
Student-facing instructions
You will work with your team to make decisions about how to use a limited supply of water in different community situations. At each station, you will read a scenario, use your role card to explain what matters most from your perspective, and spend your team's water tokens on the options you choose. You will record your decisions in your decision log, including what your team prioritized, what you could not fund, and how your choices might change farming, sanitation, transportation, household life, or where people choose to settle. After each station or station set, you will complete a short check-in by writing one new academic insight about water access and one way your thinking or collaboration changed. You will need your role card, water tokens, decision log, and a pencil. Your goal is to use evidence from the simulation and from Diamond Valley Lake observations to explain how water availability affects human needs, land use, movement, and settlement patterns.