② Deep · Connect & organize

Phase 2 — Connect & organize

Now students take the facts from Phase 1 and relate them: mapping who needs the river for what, questioning real data and country profiles, and building an argument from evidence. Deep learning is where knowledge becomes usable — the bridge to the problem.

🎯 By the end of Phase 2 students can organize the region's competing needs (upstream vs. downstream), read a secondary source for its point of view and reliability, and defend a claim about fair sharing with evidence — the exact moves the problem will demand.

Concept mapping · d 0.64§113.18(c)(5), (c)(6), (c)(8)

1 · Resource–needs concept map (upstream vs. downstream)

Build a class concept map with “The river” in the center. Around it, cluster who needs it and for what. Then draw arrows showing the direction the water flows — from upstream to downstream — so students see that a choice made high on the river reaches everyone below it.

Who	Needs the river for…	Position (upstream / downstream)
Highland	hydroelectric power at a new dam	upstream — controls the flow
Midland's growing city	drinking water for millions	middle
Rivermouth's farmers	water to grow the region's food	downstream — gets what is left
Fish & wetlands	steady flow to stay healthy	downstream — most affected

Talk move: draw an arrow from an upstream choice to a downstream effect and say the cause-and-effect sentence aloud (e.g., “If Highland holds back water to fill its dam, then Rivermouth's farms get less in a dry year”). This rehearses §113.18(c)(5) and (c)(8).

📚 Sources: National Geographic · Nile River ↗ · World Bank · Water (overview) ↗

Elaboration & organization · d 0.72§113.18(c)(19), (c)(20)

2 · Secondary-source analysis — read for point of view & reliability

Give pairs one or two real (district-approved) secondary sources — for example a country profile from the World Factbook, a water-scarcity chart, or a short reference article about a great river. Use a four-question source routine:

Source: Who made this, when, and why? Is it an official agency, a reference site, or an opinion?
Observe: What does the data or text actually say? (facts only)
Point of view: Whose interests does it reflect — and whose are missing?
Question: What does it make you want to find out?

Reliability check (c)(19): Would a farmer downstream and an engineer at the upstream dam describe the same numbers differently? How do we judge whether a source is trustworthy?

📚 Sources: CIA World Factbook · country profile (upstream example) ↗ · CIA World Factbook · country profile (downstream example) ↗ · Our World in Data · Water use & stress ↗ · United Nations · Water ↗

Argumentation · d 0.86§113.18(c)(15), (c)(19)

3 · Structured argument — a fair principle for sharing

A low-stakes rehearsal of the reasoning the problem needs. Pose a focused question and have students take a side with evidence, using a claim–evidence–reasoning frame. Then have them state the other side's strongest point (civil discourse).

Warm-up question: What is the fairest way to share a river in a dry year — everyone cuts back by the same share, water goes first to drinking needs, or the country that controls the source decides? Give your claim, one piece of evidence from Phase 1 or the sources, and your reasoning.

Sentence stems (ELPS support): “My claim is ______.” · “My evidence is ______.” · “This matters because ______.” · “Someone who disagrees might say ______, but ______.”

Note: keep this a practice argument about the general principle. The specific sharing agreement belongs in Phase 3, where students hold stakeholder roles.

📚 Sources: World Bank · Water Supply ↗ · Our World in Data · Access to water ↗

✅ Deep check before the problem: can students name an upstream cause and a downstream effect, read one source for its point of view and reliability, and state a claim with evidence? Those three abilities are exactly what Phase 3 will ask them to transfer.

‹ Phase 1 — Surface Phase 3 — Transfer ›

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.18; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX.