Curated OER
Contaminated Drinking Water
Students predict, experiment, and draw conclusions about the safety of drinking water. In this ecology lesson plan, students participate in an experiment to determine if they can taste or see contamination in drinking water. Data is...
Curated OER
Hydro-Technology
Students create a design for water collection, sanitation, or supply. In this hydro-technology lesson, students learn about the global water crisis. Groups of students read water technology articles, draw or design a device or process,...
Curated OER
Water Works Wonders
Students examine where water is found in the world, how we use it, and the various forms it takes. They observe the refraction of light through a prism, record the day and night sky over a week's time, and create a topographic model of...
US Department of Energy
Solar Distiller
Explore the sun's ability to distill contaminated water with this simple set of classroom experiments. After filling two glass bowls, one with muddy water and the other with salt water, they are covered with plastic wrap and placed in...
Curated OER
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Discuss the availability of clean, plentiful water and the causes of water pollution. In groups, sixth graders discuss problem-solving methods for keeping water clean. They explore the function of water treatment plants and perform...
Curated OER
Bottled Water vs. Tap Water
Learners analyze the similarities and differences between tap water and bottled water. They make informed decisions about their use of each. Students are asked if they drink mostly tap water straight from the tap or water fountain. They...
Curated OER
Is Our Water Healthy?
High schoolers test water for a least one chemical characteristic. They hypothesize how a storm event might change the chemical characteristics of a stream. Students collect water samples and use the chemical test to test the water.
Curated OER
Water Chestnut Graphing Activity
Students are taught how to format and enter data into an Excel spreadsheet. They make a graph and interpret graphed data. Students discuss possible impacts of water chestnut invasion. They graph data on water chestnut. Students report...
Curated OER
Pollution Research
Fourth graders explore pollution. They conduct preliminary research on pollution using the internet. Students share their findings with the group. They work with a group and create lists of facts on pollution.
Curated OER
Water
Learners learn about the history of Indiana's water and understand how easily pollution can contaminate the water supply. They also learn how little fresh water we have and how important it is to protect it.
Curated OER
Pollution Solutions
Students explore the role of chemicals in the pollution and destruction of ecosystems. They research factors that affect ecosystems and the methods being employed to counter them. In addition, they choose one water ecosystem that has...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: How Clean is that Water?
Students examine the factors the affect water quality, and allow for animals and plants to live. They look at how engineers apply water quality information when making stream modifications in order to ensure drinking water quality. They...
Curated OER
Pollution Assessment: Is Wood Lake a Good Lake?
Students become aware of pollution in Richfield Minnesota's Wood Lake, identify sources of pollution in Wood Lake, learn to use variables, equations, spreadsheets and modeling software, and generate solutions for the problem.
Curated OER
One Part A Mini Lab: Water Contamination
Students investigate the effects of ground water contamination. In this ground water contamination lesson plan, students create a mini well and simulate ground water flow through the well with a contaminate (food coloring). They make...
Curated OER
Caution: Fix It!
Young scholars explore the concept of environmental stewardship. In this science instructional activity, students investigate events that have harmed coastal resources and how human activity has restored coastal resources.
Curated OER
Introduction to Restoration Lesson
Middle schoolers explore how pollution and invasive plants disrupt the ecosystem. In this restoration lesson plan students list materials that pollute wetlands, how people can keep them clean and ways in which invasive plants establish.
Curated OER
Water: Read All About It!
Students discuss newspapers and water and work in groups to develop their own paper focusing on water issues. In this journalism lesson, students discuss the value of newspapers and water as an issue. They work as a group to develop a...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Water, Now and Then
Students describe, orally or in writing, ways people have depended on water during different periods of history. This nearly 500 page document is rich with diverse lessons and activities that will transform your young learners into water...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Pesky Plastics: The Problem with Plastic
What can happen to the environment if plastic continues to pollute it? Learners read about the implications of plastic on health, water, and nature in a two-page reading passage. After they finish reading, they work on six comprehension...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Make a Difference!
We are very dependent upon other life forms around us to survive. Here, scholars explore relationships in the ecosystem with the help of Auntie Litter and the pollution patrol. They imagine a world without grass, making connections to...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Environmental Engineering
A series on environmental engineering introduces the class to issues that environmental engineers work to solve. This first instructional activity focuses on air and land issues, and looks at ways to reduce pollution.
Curated OER
Using Environmental Models to Determine the Effect of Acid Rain on an Ecosystem
Demonstrate to your middle school science learners how chalk breaks down in a weak acid. Discuss what affects acidic rain might have on ecosystems. Lab groups then choose one of two questions: "How does acid precipitation affect an...
NOAA
Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris
The lessons in this learning guide are designed to increase youngsters' awareness of the impacts of marine debris and to teach them about pollution prevention techniques. This fabulous, 30-page packet is chock full of important...
Curated OER
Groundwater Detectives
Students measure the pH of soil samples from a hypothetical site to locate a contaminant spill and will predict the direction of groundwater flow using mathematical modeling. They use the engineering design process to develop...