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Hazardous Waste Issues in the News
Students work together to research hazardous waste in the news. They discover how large the hazardous waste issue is. They complete an experiment and discuss how the issues affect their community.
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What is an Aquifer?
Students examine how an aquifer operates. They discuss the implications of the groundwater becoming contaminated. They work together to create an aquifer model to observe the connection between surface water and groundwater.
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Dealing with Chemical Emergencies
Learners examine how all levels of government react to chemical emergencies. They identify activities which could lead to an emergency. They discuss how they respond to contaminants released into the air.
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Companion to Superfund -- The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Program
Young scholars examine the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. They work together to discover how their local community handles waste disposal. They complete a worksheet to end the lesson.
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Identifying Risks at a Superfund Site
Students work together to discover the type of risks at Superfund sites. They examine how sites are found and where to report hazardous sites. They evaluate the activities of the government to protect its citizens.
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World in the Balance
Young scholars make estimates on how many people they believe live on Earth. While watching a video, they take notes on the issues facing Kenya, Japan and India. In groups, they calculate how long it takes for a country to double in...
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Teaching About the Hydrosphere
Eighth graders are introduced to the Earth's hydrologic system including the cycling of water in the atmosphere and the movement of water on the surface of the planet using the Great Lakes watershed as an example.
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TE Activity: Pollution Politics
Students examine how a bill becomes a law in the US Congress. They investigate legislation about global warming. They determine the role of engineers as they educate Congress, the public and other government institutions about global...
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Radioactive Isotopes
Students describe an isotope and radioactive isotope in a written essay. They describe how a specific country or region was affected by radioactive contamination and attempt to sympathize with those affected by these radioactive...
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Climate And the Greenhouse Effect
Students demonstrate the greenhouse effect. They recognize that relatively small changes to our environment can stimulate significant climate changes. They determine that the "scientific method" is a process of testing hypotheses and...
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Carbon Monoxide and Population Density
Tenth graders investigate the carbon monoxide level at a fixed latitude to determine if there is a relationship to population density. They download data sets and generate a graph, and find locations using the Earth's coordinate system....
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The Hudson's Ups and Downs
Fifth graders practice interpreting line graphs of the Hudson River water levels to assess the tides and tidal cycles in the estuary. They explore how weather can affect water levels and tides and observe that high tides and low tides...
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The Copper Basin Problem
Students view a video about how human actions impact the environment. They design a set of experiments to address some of the problems and issues raised by the video.
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Mining in Texas
For this mining and nonrenewable resources worksheet, students read about mining in Texas and simulate the extraction of nonrenewable minerals. They use cookies and their components to represent the minerals they will mine and they...
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Watershed Tourist
Students recognize and categorize different bodies of water. In this watershed and water environments lesson, students "Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean." Students define the different bodies of water and sort from smallest to...
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Do We Control Nature, or Does Nature Control Us?
Student examine the theme of man versus nature in art. For this man versus nature lesson, students examine various pieces of art and discuss the theme as it is depicted. They discuss whether the themes shown in the artwork are relevant...
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Acid or Base? Toxie's on the Case
Students recognize the difference between acids and bases. In this ToxMystery instructional activity, students play a computer game and experiment to find the difference between acids and bases. Students use litmus paper to determine if...
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Shark Attack Odds and the Importance of Sharks
Students examine an ecosystem. In this food web lesson, students discover the importance of sharks and what threat sharks actually pose to humans. They participate in class discussions and work independently on a couple of different...
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Problem Based Learning Scenario
Students research about the function of MPA's. In this marine science lesson, students explore how humans influence changes near these areas. They explore different MPA's in the Great Lakes region.
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Developing Models
Students understand the concept of a scientific model and how it relates to climate change. In this obsesrvation and gathering data lesson students design a trial and error model using PowerPoint.
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How Much Energy Do You Use?
Students take a survey of energy-consuming appliances in their homes and calculate the daily cost of operating these machines. They identify those appliances that consume the most energy and consider ways to reduce the amount of energy...
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Government Gripes
Students, in groups, investigate the purpose and jurisdiction of government agencies assigned to regulate different science/technology/health issues, then describe situations in which agencies might have a disagreement, and stage a mock...
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Investigation 9 - Bird Study
Fourth graders examine specific bird characteristics and become more aware of the ecosystems that support each bird. They engage in bird walks, mapping the areas where they find evidence of bird activity.
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Alien Invasions
Students create an educational pamphlet on the origins, spread and impact of invasive plant species in their community.