Title: El Niño: The Unpredictable Child
Abstract
In this lesson students study the environmental and economic impact of El Niño on the United States. Not until the 1950s did geographers begin to study the El Nino phenomena, and to this day its unpredictable nature is very unsettling due to the drastic climate changes and devastation that El Nino can cause worldwide. El Nino events in 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 struck the United States particularly hard. Students study the geographical events that cause El Nino and apply this knowledge to understand the environmental and economic devastation caused in the United States.
Subject Area: Social Studies
Grade Level and Course Title: Eleventh Grade/World Geography
Unit of Study: The United States and Canada
Benchmarks
Describe the environmental consequences of major world processes and events (Michigan State Standards and Benchmarks, II.2.HS.1).
Describe the ways in which Earth’s physical processes are dynamic and interactive, as exemplified by being able to identify the conditions that cause changes in climate and the consequent effects on ocean levels and agricultural productivity (National Geography Standards, 7.D).
Key Concepts
world climates
Instructional Resources
Boehm, R., and Swanson, J. (1992). World Geography: A Physical and Cultural
Approach. Lake Forest, Illinois: Glencoe, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Ch. 7.
National Geographic Society (25 Nov. 2001)
“El Niño/La Niña: Nature’s Vicious Cycle”
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/elnino/mainpage.html
Public Broadcasting System (PBS) (25 Nov 2001)
“Tracking El Niño”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/
“Weathering El Niño”
http://www.pbs.org/newhour/bb/weather/jan-june98/elnino_3-2.html
Sequence of Activities
This lesson occurs after students have studied the land, climate, and living conditions in the United States and Canada. The lesson proceeds according to the following steps:
1. Explain the history of the term “El Nino” and explain that the term is in Spanish due to El Nino’s origins in the Pacific Ocean along the South American coast. The El Nino phenomenon has only recently been studied by geographers in the United States, but the phenomena has the potential to cause worldwide climactic changes.
2. The teacher constructs a brief lecture on El Nino and it affects on world climates. Emphasis is placed on El Nino’s potential for devastating environmental destruction. Using images provided by the National Geographic Society, the teacher illustrates to students the warm water current that flows across the Pacific Ocean. It is important for students to think about how drastic climate changes would affect them personally.
3. The teacher engages students in discussion asking the following questions.
Students write down responses in their journals before participating in class discussion.
· If there were an unfamiliar cold spell during next years summer season how would Michigan’s economy be affected?
· If it did not snow this winter how would you personally be affected?
The teacher explains how Michigan’s agriculture industry (and the nation’s
agriculture industry) is dependent on the predictable climate conditions of geographical regions from year to year. Drastic changes in climate can cause devastating destruction.
4. Individually, students read the case study from the geography textbook entitled,
“El Niño: The Unpredictable Child,” and answer questions at the end of the chapter. The questions require students to explain the characteristics of the El Nino phenomena and to identify how the 1982/83 events caused drastic climate changes in the Western Hemisphere and caused environmental and economic destruction to various industries. The teacher discusses the questions with students before they turn in the assignment.
5. Students read two articles, “El Niño/La Niña” and “Weathering El Niño,” which describe the environmental and economic impact of El Niño (1997-1998) on the United States. Explain the “La Nina” phenomena and its inverse relationship to El Nino to ensure that students do not confuse the two distinct events. The teacher reviews this material by comparing and contrasting the consequences of the 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 El Niño events. The teacher writes students responses on the chalkboard or transparency.
Assessment
Students are able to define, explain, and identify the characteristics of El Niño through the completion of the following two assignments.
1) Students draw a map of the western hemisphere and chart the progression of El
Niño’s warm water current and label each of the various stages using a color key they create.
2) In addition, students submit a two page essay describing the similarities and
differences between the environmental and economic devastation caused by the two El Niño events discussed in class. Students must also speculate on the following: If they were geographers, which techniques and research methods would they implement to help understand El Nino’s unpredictable nature?
Extra Credit Assignment:
Students conduct outside research and identify one example of how either the
1982/1983 or 1997/1998 El Niño event affected their local community or region. Students must clearly identify a direct correlation between an El Niño event and the affects on their local community or region. To be submitted in a typed two-page essay explaining the person(s) and place(s) involved and the consequences caused by El Nino.