Grade 3 · Communities · §113.14 · Problem-Based Learning

Living with the River — When Nature Changes Our Community

A Problem-Based Learning unit. Students step into the town of Willow Bend, take on a stakeholder's point of view, and solve a real, messy question about a river that floods — building from surface to deep to transfer learning. The teacher is a guide, not the answer key.

Driving question: Every spring the river near the town of Willow Bend rises and sometimes floods homes, the park, and Main Street. People disagree about what to do — build a wall, move the park, plant trees along the bank, or leave things as they are. What should the community do to live safely with the river?

The three-phase path (do them in order)

Problem-solving is a transfer move — it only works once students have knowledge to reason with. So the problem in Phase 3 is deliberately gated behind Phases 1 and 2.

① Surface

Build the knowledge

River & nature words, a jigsaw on how people live with nature, and map work. ~1–2 periods.

② Deep

Connect & organize

Cause-and-effect concept map, a wall vs. green solutions, and a first claim. ~1–2 periods.

③ Transfer

Solve the problem

Meet the flood, take a role, investigate, weigh options, vote, and debrief. ~2–4 periods.

⛔ Gate: don't open the Phase 3 problem until students have finished the surface and deep activities. Meeting the problem too early turns inquiry into guessing.

Big idea & objectives

Big idea: Communities adapt to and modify their physical environment. When nature changes — like a river that floods — people weigh safety, cost, and nature to solve a shared problem together. That is the heart of good citizenship.

Know: what a natural hazard is, why a river floods, and ways people adapt to or modify their environment.
Understand: the same flooding river looks different from each stakeholder's point of view.
Do: run the problem-solving process end to end — name a problem, gather information, weigh options, choose a solution, and check it (§113.14(c)(16)(B)).

Standards this unit is aligned to (§113.14)

TEKS SE	Where it lives in the unit
(c)(3)(A)	Physical environment — climate, landforms, natural resources & natural hazards — Surface vocabulary & jigsaw
(c)(3)(B–C)	How people adapt to & modify the environment; effects of human processes — Surface jigsaw, Deep concept map
(c)(4)(A,C)	Directions & map elements — title, compass rose, legend, scale, grid — Surface map work
(c)(2)(A) · (c)(7)(C)	Communities form for security; services local government provides — Transfer roles
(c)(5)(A–B)	Spending & saving; a simple budget — weighing the cost of options — Deep & Transfer
(c)(14)(A–F)	Gather & compare sources, cause & effect, claim + evidence — Deep & Transfer
(c)(16)(B)	The problem-solving process — the entire Transfer phase

Teacher prep & materials

Print the facilitator guide (teacher moves, map of possibilities, role cards, debrief prompts) and the assessment pack (rubric + individual-in-group).
Chart paper or a projected space for three shared columns: Hunches · Know · Need-to-Know (the KWHL chart).
A big drawing or printout of the Willow Bend map with the river, the park, and Main Street, plus play money or counters for the budget.
Vetted sources for investigation (district-approved). Suggested free sources are listed in the facilitator guide.
No logins, no accounts — every page runs in the browser. Student writing and products live on paper or in tools your district already vets.

▶ Start Phase 1 — Surface 🧑‍🏫 Facilitator guide ✅ Assessment 📊 Correlation

Teacher supports: UDL · ELPS · PBL facilitation guide (7 languages)

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.14; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This scenario is a teaching fiction.