Social Studies

By using hands-on experiences to show the interrelationships among waste generation, natural resource use, and disposal, students will begin to understand the issues and options surrounding waste management. The activities guide students through waste management strategies and solutions while providing the necessary tools to make informed decisions and choices on waste management issues.

A PLT Training must be attended to obtain the curricula described on here and on the Project Learning Tree website.

Students will examine ecological systems of a forest, analyze interdependencies within a forest ecosystem, and explore factors, like fire, that shape the development of forests. Many solutions in forest management are found by taking a multifaceted approach to problem solving. Students will learn that these types of problem solving skills can be used in a variety of ways in a variety of subjects, and sometimes there is not just one solution to attain the desirable outcome.

Incorporate environmental education into a social studies class by having students research an endangered animal in a foreign country. Students can not only investigate the endangered species, but also investigate the environment, political landscape, and the culture of the country the species resides in. In their studies, students may even discover if the country of interest is taking steps to preserve their endangered species.

In this interactive and multi-disciplinary lesson, students learn about all aspects of forest fires: what they are, what causes them, how they affect the environment, and how it is used by man. Students will learn the answers to these questions by looking at a variety of data sources from real-time data to case studies. Along the way, they will record their findings in a project journal. Once students have completed their research, they will formulate their own opinions about the use of controlled burning, and also identify areas at-risk for forest fires.

In this lesson, students will examine the role oil has played throughout human history, how that role has changed over time, and the repercussions of oil use on society and the environment. After brainstorming a list of oil's current uses, students will examine an online timeline to explore how its role has changed over the course of history. Then, utilizing another dynamic online resource, students will complete an in-depth analysis of oil's current and historic applications in the home, in industry, in medicine, and in transportation.

The cougar has returned from the brink of extinction, and its increasing presence is a source of both wonder and concern. The combination of spreading urbanization and successful cougar conservation efforts has resulted in an increase in human-cougar encounters, sometimes with negative consequences to both. In this lesson, students use a problem-based approach to determine whether it is possible for humans and cougars to live side-by-side in a mutually beneficial relationship.

This lesson is correlated to National Language Arts and Science content standards.

In this lesson, students use a problem-based approach to study the question of whether there is one ecosystem in Big Sur that is more important than all the others. Students watch Living Edens: Big Sur, and explore the hypothetical question: If, because of a budget crisis, the California state government must drastically cut aid to environmental protection of Big Sur, which ecosystem -- ocean, seashore, forest, or mountain -- should be considered the most important and get the greatest share of the limited funds?