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All Hands on Deck: A Harbor Education Program
Pupils build a model of an estuary. In this wetland instructional activity, students build a model estuary with a paint tray and modeling clay. They use the model to illustrate the impact of non-point pollution on the watershed.
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Water Quality and Pollution Web Quest
Learners explore how water is a limited resource, where it comes from, how it can become polluted and how it is used. In this water quality instructional activity students search the web to answer given questions and prepare a report...
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LitterFlotsam and Jetsam: A Little Litter Goes a Long Way
Students explore the concept of environmental stewardship. In this science lesson, students investigate data from the International Coastal Cleanup, identify sources of marine debris, and discover the impacts of this debris on wildlife.
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Watershed Protection
Students explore environmental care by participating in an Earth science activity. For this clean water lesson, students discuss what a watershed is, how they become polluted, and how it affects the overall quality of drinking water....
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Snapshot Day Definitions and Activities
Here is a document full of teaching notes on water quality and bodies of water that you can use in your ecology curriculum. It has information specific to the Hudson River area, but can easily be adapted to any local body of water....
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Water Pollution Graphing Activity
Students describe and identify the link between land use activities within a watershed and water quality. They evaluate the quality of a "water sample" ( a bag of skittles), graph their results, and form a hypothesis about the land use...
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Underground Pollution
Fourth graders construct their own aquifer. They discover how water travels underwater and identifies sources of underground pollution. They record their observations and discuss the results.
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Non-Point Source Pollution
Students study non-point source pollution. They research the concept of bio-degradation and/or Nutrients/Fertilizers and discuss how non-point source pollution impacts the environment. Afterwards, they participate in an interactive...
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Air Pollution: Visible and Invisible
Fourth graders work together to complete an experiment on air pollution. They identify visible and invisible forms of pollution. They gather their data in notebooks and analyze their results to end the lesson.
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Ocean Pollution & its Effect on Aquatic Animals
Students consider the concept of ocean pollution. In this ocean instructional activity, students participate in a hands-on demonstration in order to replicate an oil spill and its effects on marine life.
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Liquid Assets: Watershed
Pupils watch videos and create a representation of their watershed. In this water resources and pollution lesson plan, students watch three short videos and discuss them. They use ordinary objects to create a model of their watershed.
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Is Our Water Clean?
Students identify qualities of clean water which will develop an awareness of people in the community who keep our water clean. This lesson plan has a literature tie-in with the "Magic School Bus" series.
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Air Quality
Students determine potential sources of major air pollutants, explain how acid rain is generated and how it affects the environment, discuss global warming, and explore protective role of ozone and cause of ozone layer thinning. Lessons...
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The Water Cycle
Learners are introduced to the components and importance of the water cycle. They are shown how groundwater moves using a model. Students list 9 places on earth where water is found. They define the terms cycle and water cycle.
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Where Do We Get Clean Water?
Students investigate the concept of a filter. They use simple supplies in order to construct one after watching a demonstration performed by the teacher. An important warning that the project water is not clean for drinking is included....
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Water Resources and the Role of the Independent Sector
Students identify the need to maintain and protect our natural resources. In this natural resource lesson plan, students study pictures of the effects of pollution on animals and water. Students brainstorm a list of ways water is an...
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The Water Cycle
Students list the nine places on earth where water is found. They define the terms cycle and water cycle. Students explain how energy from the sun powers the movement of water molecules through the water cycle. They name and describe...
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Leach Out and Touch Someone
Students discuss how groundwater becomes polluted. In groups, they design and create models of groundwater pollution sources. They demonstrate to the class how the water may become contaminated from local and nonlocal pollution sources.
Carnegie Mellon University
Hydroelectricity
Use a simple PowerPoint presentation to introduce you environmental studies class to hydropower. Hold a debate about the pros and cons of developing this form of alternative energy. Power up your class with this simple lesson on a topic...
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You Are What You Drink!
Students explore water treatment systems. In this water conservation ecology lesson plan, students identify and explain several processes used for water treatment and define related vocabulary after listening to content information given...
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What Are We?
Students describe different types of water pollutants. They complete experiments in which they observe the affects of water pollution on algae. They also brainstorm and list three causes of each water pollutant.
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Language Arts: Investigating Issues That Matter
Students are able to become more informed about the dangers of water contamination by sharing their prior knowledge with each other. They discover the importance of communicating these dangers to the public.
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Are You Thirsty: The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Middle schoolers discuss the different causes of water pollution. In this ecology lesson, students brainstorm ways to purify polluted water. They formulate their conclusion based on the results of the experiments.
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Is Your Water Clean?
Students conduct tests of water samples from different sources, such as a local river, tap water, and an irrigation ditch. After determining which pollutants are present in each sample, students hypothesize the possible sources of the...