Earth Day Network
Staying Green While Being Clean
Clean up the environment with a lesson plan that focuses on replacing hazardous cleaning supplies with green, environmentally-friendly products. Using a dirty patch of surface as a control area, kids clean other parts of various surfaces...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2009
Emerging ecologists need a full understanding of life, from the inner workings of a cell to the complex relationships among organisms. This examination is meant to assess high schoolers after an entire year course on the living...
Curated OER
Regents High School Examination: Living Environment 2007
Environmental science enthusiasts show what they know at the end of the year by taking this full-fledged final exam. They answer multiple choice, graph interpretation, and essay analysys questions, 73 of them in all. Topics range from...
Curated OER
Pesticide Watch Card
Young scholars examine human health by identifying dangerous pesticides. In this agriculture lesson, students research the food production system in the United States and discuss dangers such as pesticides, chemicals and insecticides...
American Chemical Society
The Legacy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
How do we protect crops and protect the environment at the same time? Using reading materials, learners explore the history of the use of pesticides and biocides. They create a timeline and then explore the current practices.
College Board
1999 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
Pollution is a real concern in most areas of Earth. A four-question AP® assessment has learners analyze data related to water pollution and air pollution as well as consider the pros and cons of recycling. Each question has several...
College Board
2012 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions
Sometimes solving one problem leads to another. Scholars respond to questions about fracking to harvest natural gas and other environmental related topics. The resource provides items released from the 2012 AP® Environmental Science exam...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Rachel Carson and the Modern Environmental Movement
Scholars analyze the environmental movement started in the 1960s. Through excerpts from Rachel Carson's books as well as diary entries, they take a look at the reason for the modern movement to save the planet and then create final...
Channel Islands Film
Human Impact on the Food Web of Santa Cruz Island
What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...
University of Connecticut
Weather Vs. Whether
Monarch butterfly populations have decreased by 90 percent over the past 20 years due to misuse and ineffectiveness of some pesticides. Given the challenge to increase pesticide safety and effectiveness, the class, through discussion,...
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Cornell University
Beneficial Insects
A lot of people think of insects as pests. But actually, some insects are beneficial because they get rid of pests! After learning about beneficial insects, class members research given insects to find out if they are pests or predators.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section Two: Why is Biodiversity Important?
Explore soil, genetic traits, natural resources, and pollution in a series of lessons that focus on biodiversity. Kids complete experiments to learn more about the importance of varied genes and organisms in an ecosystem.
Curated OER
Wildlife Study Comparison
Environmental science classes read articles about two different scientific studies. One is about the effects of contraceptive chemicals on fertility, and the other is about how a pesticide may be reducing bone density in exposed...
Curated OER
The Influence of Human Activity on the Environment
The surge in human population in the last 2,000 years, due in large part to better health care, has brought a surge in the demand for resources and in pollution. The graphics, photographs, and real-life examples in a thought-provoking...
Curated OER
Lithosphere and Groundwater
Focusing on the quality of our water sources, these slides are full of information about the aspects of our soil and groundwater that may affect pollution. The leaching of pollutants and their impact on health is explained. ...
Curated OER
AP Environmental Science-Food Fight
The content in this lesson is of a controversial nature. Please review to make sure it is suitable for your class. A video, The Meatrix is shown to the class, and then they discuss the emotionally-charged language that it uses. They are...
Curated OER
A Yen for Maximum Residue Limits in Food
Future public health officials or agriculturists read an article and answer questions concerning the Japanese regulations for pesticide exposure. They compare the maximum residue limit for two, 4-D of Japan with other countries. This is...
Curated OER
Arsenic and Lead Scavenger Hunt
Health wizards read and discuss an article about lead contamination then come up with a plan to help solve the problem. They get into groups to develop a community solution within the parameters of a budget, feasibility, and the source...
Curated OER
A Safe Food Supply? Is Your Food Safe to Eat?
Viewers of this slide show learn that pesticides used on food crops can be harmful, but that there are certain allowable levels that should not be hazardous. They find out the rigorous process of inspection that meat must go through...
Curated OER
Agricultural Chemical Safety
A list of classes of pesticides opens this presentation. Aspiring agriculturists learn how to read the labels on pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture. They discover what safety equipment is needed for handling these...
Curated OER
Organic Mechanic Part I
On day one of the "Organic Mechanic Part I" lesson plan, learners try to remove the waxy coating of an apple and consider pesticides that may be represented by this addition to our food. On day two, they research pesticides online and...
Curated OER
Water Pollution
Get your scientists engaged in both recall and life application responses after reading a selection from a McGraw Hill science text (not included). Based on chapter 14, this water pollution learning exercise has students review where...
Curated OER
Poisoning the Prairie
Seventh graders investigate what pesticides are and why people use them. They examine the effect of pesticides on prairie grasses and what alternatives can be used.