And among His Signs - the barren land.

Death Valley, California is the lowest, hottest, driest location in North America. It is one of the hottest places on earth, nothing grows. However in 2004 6.9" rain fell on Death Valley and it comes to life.

From this barren land :

to this :

Read more on about Death Valley and this phenomenon, here (NBC News) and here (Educational Transformation).

And by the way, in Educational Transformation, the Ken Robinson talk that he was referring to is this inspirational talk.
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"And among His Signs in this: thou seest the earth barren and desolate; but when We send down rain to it, it is stirred to life and yields increase. Truly, He Who gives life to the (dead) earth can surely give life to (men) who are dead. For He has power over all things."
Al Quran, Fussilats 41:39 (translation of the Quran by Yusuf Ali)