Environmental Science

What's Up in the Environment has produced three long-term projects focusing on water issues: Contaminated Water, Watersheds, and Wetlands. Each project provides step-by-step instructions and resources for educators to get their students involved in local water issues.

In this lesson for grades 9-12, students work in teams to design a heat- and water-conserving “green roof” of plant material for an urban apartment building. They address economic and community considerations of green roof design.

Students will:
Study design decisions that affect energy transfer between a building and the outside environment.
Identify and consider decisions involved in improving a building’s energy profile.
Analyze economic and community aspects of green roof options.

Congress answered this question in the preamble to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, recognizing that endangered and threatened species of wildlife and plants "are of esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people."

Coastal resources are under constant threat from natural processes and human activities. News media regularly feature stories of damage to coral reefs, estuaries, fisheries and other resources caused by storms, ship groundings, oil spills, chemical releases, and many other events. Modern coastal resource management includes using science and technology to protect and restore coastal resources affected by such events. These efforts can include removing pollutants and invasive species, repairing damaged habitats, restoring natural ecosystem processes such as water flow, and re-introducing native organisms.

By examining the case of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986, students study the adverse effects of high doses of radiation on biological systems.

This lesson focuses on how engineers use various techniques to provide solutions to oil spills or other threats to natural water resources. Students work in teams to analyze an "oil spill" in the classroom, then design, build and test a system to first contain and then remove the oil from the water.

Discuss the oil spill with your students using this fact sheet. The Subsea Oil Recovery System is a large structure that can be placed over the largest leak source in the Transocean Deepwater Horizon Rig. The system is designed to collect hydrocarbons from the well and pump them to a tanker at the surface, where they will be stored and safely shipped ashore.

Developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the X PRIZE Foundation, the Fuel Our Future Now Online Knowledge Center provides science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) interactive resources and teaching tools.

The PBS Teachers STEM Education Resource Center offers television and online content to help students explore new ideas and new worlds related to STEM. The site provides nearly 4,000 science, technology, engineering and math resources as well as access to STEM education news, video collections, professional development opportunities and additional STEM resource providers.

The STEM Gateways and Resources collection is comprised of web portals, websites and individual digital resources. The resources focus on ideas and practices in the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as the uses of technology in the classroom.