Living with the Desert
by Timothy McDonnell
Victor Jr. High School
Victor, New York
CONNECTIONS TO THE NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR GEOGRAPHY:
The geographically aware person knows…
Std. 3 - How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places,
and environments on Earth’s surface.
Std. 8 - The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems
on Earth’s surface.
Std. 14 - How human actions modify the physical environment.
Std. 18 - How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan
for the future.
CONNECTIONS TO THE NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS FOR MATH,
SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY:
Std. 4.5 - The Living Environment: Organisms maintain a dynamic
equilibrium that sustains life.
Std. 4.6 - Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical
environment.
Std. 4.7 - Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact
on the physical and living environment.
Std. 4.4 - Physical Setting: Energy exists in many forms,
and when these forms change, energy is conserved.
OBJECTIVES: (to know, to do, and to be like)
1. Students will research a species of plant or animal to determine adaptations
they possess that enable it to survive desert conditions.
2. After sharing information with other students, they will design a desert
creature and justify their decisions.
3. Students will apply the concept of specific heat to explaining why
heat islands form in Southwest communities.
4. Students will list methods urban planners can use to minimalize the
effects of heat islands.
MATERIALS:
Activity worksheet (in pdf format) reference
materials (animal encyclopedias, books on desert life, internet sources),
drawing materials, piece of concrete or brick, hot plate, thermometers,
satellite
image of Salt Lake City.
PROCEDURES:
This section is designed for life science classes…
1. Discuss students problems living organisms face in surviving desert
conditions.
2. Assign students different plants and animals from the desert Southwest.
They research special adaptations these organisms have that permit them
to exist in the desert environment.
3. Students write up a short summary of their research and report back
to the class.
4. Based on the research done by themselves and their classmates, students
then design their concept of the “perfect” desert creature. They can be
imaginative, but it must be a living organism (not a robot or an extraterrestrial).
They can either draw or build models of this plant or animal.
5. People live in the desert too. Ask class for adaptations we must make
to survive there.
6. Emphasize that modern desert communities have created artificial environments
(air con-ditioning, swimming pools, etc.). Ask students how this affects
the desert as a whole.
This section is designed for physical science classes…
7. Review with students the concept of specific heat. What does
it mean if the specific heat is high (like water) or low (like most metals)?
8. As a demonstration or as an experiment, students determine the specific
heat of a building material, such as concrete or brick. This is done by
heat the material is boiling water, and then dropping it into cold water
(<10°C). After measuring the temperature rise in the cold water, they
use a formula to determine the building material’s specific heat.
9. Students then solve problems about heat, in particular comparing the
heating ability of desert vegetation vs. buildings and pavement. They should
see that buildings and pavement have higher temperatures from the same amount
of heat.
10. Introduce the concept of a Heat Island. Urban areas can be as much
as 15° hotter than areas with vegetation and water. Have students look
at a thermal image of Salt Lake City, Utah. They should be able to compare
the differences between urbanized vs. rural areas.
11. Have the students read over a short article about heat islands. Discuss
with them the effects of heat islands, and possible solutions city planners
are using to reduce the effects of heat islands.
SUGGESTED STUDENT ASSESSMENTS:
1. Assess the students’ desert creatures in terms of design and how they
applied their understanding of adaptations of real organisms to the problem.
2. Give students additional problems on heat, and assess their ability
to solve them.
3. Provide students with additional thermal images of urban areas. Can
they see the patterns?
ADAPTATIONS AND EXTENSIONS:
1. The article about heat islands discusses how vegetation cools the landscape
by evaporating water. Problems on latent heat could be introduced here.
2. Suppose the climate changes and becomes cooler and wetter. Ask students
how their creatures would survive then?
3. Ask students to design an “environmentally friendly community.” How
would it differ from cities like Phoenix or Las Vegas?
Return to the Southwest Title
Page.