Curated OER
Natural Forces
Learners assess the damage natural forces have caused Maryland's geographic features. In this state geography and ecology lesson, students work in a group to research ways in which weathering, erosion, and deposition have affected the...
Curated OER
Biodiversity Study -- A Unit Study
Learners sample a site with low human impact, one with moderate human impact, and a third with high human impact. Students chart the data for each site and then compare the sites and discuss.
Curated OER
The Sahara: Home of the Tuareg
Students research and analyze the Tuareg and other groups as well, including their own, and examine the impact culture has on environment.
Curated OER
It's Just a Barn
Investigate Pennsylvania Barns. Have your class consider the elements common to Pennsylvanian barns and why they are significant to the food production process. They write summaries of Frederick Watts and his impact on agriculture.
Curated OER
Renewable Resources: Ancient Civilizations
Students examine how ancient people used natural resources. For this renewable resource lesson, students will be put into 5 groups each focusing on a different past civilization. Each group will identify they types of resources their...
Michigan Sea Grant
Fish Habitat and Humans
Strict habitat requirements are needed for the survival of fish populations and fish variety in the Great Lakes. Young scientists become experts in the basic needs of fish and understand how survival necessities can vary with different...
Curated OER
Environment: Waste Walk
Students assess the positive and negative affects of humans on the environment. The lesson explores ways in which individuals and societies can reduce the negative impact on the environment. By taking a "waste walk" around their campus,...
Curated OER
Lights On ! Lights Off! Exploring Human Settlement Patterns
Third graders write informational paragraphs based on the settlement patterns of the United States. In this settlement lesson plan, 3rd graders read about population and how it affects where people settle next.
Curated OER
Ecology
Students make connections between their daily lives and the usage of natural resources as they relate to the importance of environmental quality. In this ecology lesson, students listen to the story The Lorax by Dr. Seuss...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Environment: River of Life
Students assess the impact of human activity on the environment. After reading the book, "A River Ran Wild," they role-play and discuss how people changed the river. Students write stories about living along a river from the point of...
SeaWorld
Shark!
Here is an impressive collection of lessons on sharks. In them, pupils undertake a serious study of sharks, their habitats, their social structure, and how humans adversely impact their existence. These lessons effectively integrate...
California Academy of Science
Greening Your Middle School
Middle schoolers redesign their school to make it more energy efficient, and create a model of their design. Learners get together in groups of 5, and they take on the task of making their school more energy efficient. To do this, they...
Curated OER
Photosynthesis and Respiration
Young scholars comprehend the relationship between plants and animals in an aquatic ecosystem. They predict the effects of low dissolved oxygen on the organisms. Students create microcosms with plants, animals, or both. They determine...
Curated OER
Natural Resources: Getting a Fair Share?
High schoolers explore the impact of human behavior on key components of the environment, examine how theirn own personal decisions have added to the problem, and explore possible solutions to the current ecological crisis.
Curated OER
Environment: How'd That Pollution Get There?
Learners examine how global wind and water patterns aid in the spread of worldwide pollution. In groups, they read articles about the domino effect of pollution and create posters displaying its journey. On blank world maps, students...
Curated OER
The Great Kapok Tree - Economic Impact of Deforestation
Students read "The Great Kapok Tree" by Lynne Cherry. They, in groups, research the economic impacts of deforestation in areas with rain forest and identify resources that humans use from the rain forest.
Curated OER
The Human Organism
Students discuss human emotions and mental health. In this mental and emotional health lesson, students write a short story regarding the "think and share" choice. Students include emotion, the connection between feelings and conflict...
Curated OER
Environment: Just Around the Bend
Learners decipher landforms on a map and corresponding satellite imagery. They consider the impact of pollution on agriculture and water. They draw diagrams demonstrating how pollution works its way into the food source.
Curated OER
Mystery, Myth, and Wonder: The White Elephant
High schoolers examine the role of the elephant in the culture of Thailand through many different class activities based on a PBS program "The White Elephants of Thailand with Meg Ryan". Students also look at the impact of technology on...
Curated OER
Raindrops Keep Burning On My head
Young scholars investigate the effects and causes of acid rain. They test pH of household items to familiarize themselves with pH scale and compare that information with acid rain solutions. They investigate impact of acid rain via...
Curated OER
The Impact
Young scholars study inventions and the impact they have had on people. In this investigative lesson students learn how inventions are created and take part in a design project that will allow them to solve problems.
Curated OER
Ceramics and Patterns with Islamic Roots and the Effect on Christian Europe
Learners examine a variety of ceramic pieces and trace their route through China into Europe. As a class, they discuss how ideas and patterns were carried along with the art itself. To end the lesson, they write a report on the...
Curated OER
Groundwater Modeling
Students evaluate the effects of point and non-pointy sources of water pollution using a model. They assess human impact on water quality. Students build a model which represents an aspect of the hydrosphere and compare their model with...