Modeling Human Impact on Systems
Aligned to HS-ESS3-6 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Earth's systems are interconnected, so a computational model can show how a change in one ripples through the others. These models let us test how human activities modify links among the atmosphere, water, land, and life.
Worked example
A model of deforestation shows that removing a rainforest reduces the water plants release into the air, which lowers local rainfall, dries the soil, and warms the region, illustrating how one human action cascades across several connected systems.
Practice questions
- Observe: Cutting down a forest changes rainfall, soil, and temperature at once. What does that tell you about how tightly Earth's systems are linked?
- Model: Draw a diagram connecting the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, then show how burning fossil fuels touches each one.
- Explain: A model predicts that melting permafrost releases carbon, which warms the climate, which melts more permafrost. Explain how this feedback illustrates human impact rippling through Earth's systems.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Modelar el impacto humano
Los sistemas de la Tierra están interconectados, así que un modelo computacional puede mostrar cómo un cambio en uno se propaga a los demás. Estos modelos nos permiten probar cómo las actividades humanas modifican los vínculos entre la atmósfera, el agua, la tierra y la vida.
Ejemplo: Un modelo de deforestación muestra que quitar una selva reduce el agua que las plantas liberan al aire, lo que disminuye la lluvia local, seca el suelo y calienta la región, ilustrando cómo una sola acción humana se propaga en cascada por varios sistemas conectados.
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