Science

Incorporate environmental themes and data into science classes to show students the applicability of science in everyday life. Use news stories to connect global issues to your local environment, assess the health of a local stream, or perform an audit of your school’s energy consumption and recommend improvements. Use the search function to the right to explore other ways to incorporate environmental themes into science lessons.

Hidden Relationships: Energy Sources and Water Usage

In this lesson, students will examine the major ways that water is utilized for a variety of energy sources. They will also participate in a photographic matching activity that compares energy usages to further understand the role water plays in energy consumption. Lastly, students will analyze the amounts of water used by various energy sources through a graphing activity.

William Finley, Wildlife Photography Pioneer

The historian Douglas Brinkley credits William Finley as being one amongst a group of photographers that helped popularize wildlife photography. Growing up in Northern California and Oregon, Finley spent his time roaming the wilderness and developed an interest in birding. He would often collect specimens of rare bird species and eggs.

New Interactive Map Tracks Ocean Dead Zones

The World Resources Institute has announced that new research from WRI and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) identifies over 530 dead zones and an additional 228 sites worldwide exhibiting signs of marine "eutrophication" -- or over-fertilized areas due to agricultural run-off. These areas and the information about them have all been put on a map that allows users to see what is happening where, including access to photos, articles and other information.

Invasive Species Lesson Plan Booklet

In the pursuit of her Girl Scout Gold Award, Tarin Rickett of Croton-On-Hudson, NY created an extensive lesson plan booklet focusing on Invasive Species. Realizing that invasive species pose a serious threat to ecosystems around the globe, Tarin's lesson plan booklet includes classroom activities geared towards 4th, 5th, and 6th graders (though they can be adapted for older age groups).

NCSE-NASA Interdisciplinary Climate Change Education

The NCSE-NASA Interdisciplinary Climate Change Education Team is developing a curricular package on climate change based on a University of California Davis course taught by Professor Arnold Bloom. The curriculum includes modules that cover a wide range of topics relevant to climate change. Data produced by NASA is used to create data-driven modules focusing on ice core and recent climate change observations.

Promoting Understanding and Learning for Society and Environmental Health

PULSE is an interdisciplinary curriculum. It is designed to improve life science literacy by providing lessons for core high school subjects that address environmental health and biomedical research. These topics are equally relevant and motivating within science classrooms and also in those of geography, language arts, government, world and American history, and mathematics classes.

Cluster Busters: A Game of Disease Mystery Solving

Cluster Busters is a unique science curriculum in which students research disease clusters that might be induced by environmental toxicants. In the process, students utilize a range of skills, draw from various academic subjects, and learn the issues and processes of disease cluster investigation. The game introduces the concepts of epidemiology, risk assessment, and toxicology. The process of investigation encourages logical thinking and problem solving and enhances student familiarity with research techniques and statistics.

Voyage from the Sun

Voyage From The Sun is a 20-lesson classroom science module designed to introduce 4th-9th grade students to the major ways in which energy is important in living systems. Voyage encourages students to explore the story of Earth's energy. Students examine how they use energy, where it comes from, and how human impact on natural habitats affects the natural energy flow. Voyage From The Sun supports science reform efforts by building bridges between biology, the physical sciences, math and language arts.

School Power...Naturally

School Power...Naturally is part of the Power...Naturally program developed by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The website offers numerous lessons and activities on renewable energy at all grades levels, which can be downloaded as PDFs or Word documents.The lessons are correlated to New York State Curriculum Standards for Math, Science and Tecnology.

Knowledge is Power

Originally created for use in Texas, Knowledge is Power is an energy efficiency curriculum supplement for grades K-12. These lesson plans on energy conservation and energy efficiency are correlated to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards and include starter activities, extensions, and discussion questions.

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