Government

These modules use forest related examples to help students better understand the complexity of environmental issues. In the Focus on Forests module, students examine issues objectively, collect and analyze data, and become involved in decision making experiences. They learn how to present arguments clearly and how citizens can play a role in forest management decisions.

In this lesson plan from Discovery Education, students learn about the migration patterns of whales and how scientists are tracking them in order to discover how whales are affected by changes in the environment. The lesson is appropriate for grades 6-8 and adheres to McREL standards in geography, technology, civics and life science.

The Medicine Chest is a complication of multidisciplinary classroom lessons, sample stewardship activities and background information for teachers and high school students on how the improper disposal of unwanted medicines can be harmful to people, pets and the environment. Alligns with Illinois and Indiana state standards.

The Coral Reef Teacher's Guide from Reef Relief, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting living coral reef ecosystems, provides lesson plans for grades K-12 on coral reefs. The lesson plans are spirally integrated with each grade level, building upon the previous one. The lesson plans can be adapted to meet educational standards in math, science, language arts, art, geography and social science.

In this lesson, students will learn the different types of water rights and debate the profit-making aspect of selling and leasing water rights. Students will simulate water allocation to explore the problems of drought, degraded water quality, and wastefulness. The lesson plan refers to the Terrain magazine article "From Source to Sink". The lesson was produced by the Ecology Center and is correlated to California History and Social Science standards for grades 11 and 12.

These curricular materials and activities, developed by Water Partners International, are aligned with national education standards. Stand-alone lesson plans are part of larger units that cover a broad scope of subjects including English, science, and technology and social sciences like geography, civics and economics. Classroom activities cover everything from poetry seminars and vocabulary-building worksheets to science and math lessons about potable water availability.

These featured activities were developed by Earth Day Network in support of EE Week's 2009 Be Water Wise! theme. You will need Adobe Reader in order to view these files. For a free download of Adobe Reader, click here.