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Unit Plan
Intel

Composting: Why Bother?

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
The first STEM lesson in a group of 10 explores composting. After discussing how to make a better tomorrow, classes are challenged to track garbage in their communities, visit a local waste management facility, and conduct a survey about...
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Lesson Plan
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Waste and Recycling: Recycling and Energy Recovery

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. Young environmentalists learn about the overwhelming amount of garbage produced and discover better ways to minimize their impact on Earth by learning the difference between garbage and recyclables. 
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Unit Plan
Cal Recycle

Conserving Natural Resources

For Teachers K - 3rd Standards
Trying to plan an engaging elementary science unit on natural resources? Conserve your energy! This five-part series of lessons and hands-on activities has exactly what you need to teach young scholars about the importance of conservation.
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Lesson Plan
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Baylor College

Fuel for Living Things

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
During a three-part lesson plan, learners make a cabbage juice pH indicator and use it to analyze the waste products of yeast after feeding them with sugar. The intent is to demonstrate how living organisms produce carbon dioxide, which...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Biodiesel and Mitigating Waste

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Biotechnology pros produce their own biofuel using waste oil and fresh vegetable oil. They test the quality of their product using titration techniques and pH analysis. They write their observations and report their findings. Be aware...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Streetfilms' Moving Beyond the Automobile

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
This is an exceptional series that you can use in an environmental or engineering unit. There are four lessons: "Sustainable Transportation," "Designing for Safety," "Changing the Landscape," and "Engaging in Policy." Each lesson...
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Watershed Works: Unit 3

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Geology whizzes observe the effects of change within a model of a watershed. They place replica waste dumps within the models and note the path that the waste takes as water passes through. This detailed lesson plan provides teacher...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

How Will We Create a Future without Waste?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Many young people act globally by reducing, reusing, and recycling, Now they take it to the next level by upcycling. Middle schoolers design a proposal to eliminate waste by exploring the new material cycle and applying their knowledge...
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Lesson Plan
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Beyond Benign

E-Factor: Environmental Impact Factor

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Explore how chemical processes reduce production waste. The 19th lesson in a 24-part series has learners explore the impact of green chemistry techniques on waste in production scenarios. They consider petrochemicals, bulk chemicals,...
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Lesson Plan
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Beyond Benign

Water Waste

For Students 6th - 8th
Explore the process of wastewater treatment. Scholars analyze different samples of water before drawing conclusions about the types of chemicals in the water that leaves our homes. 
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Unit Plan
Purdue University

What a Waste of Food!

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Follow the life of an apple from harvest to the consumer. A three-part lesson describes the different steps to get an apple from the farmer to your kitchen and the approximate waste that happens at each step. They discuss the process and...
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Unit Plan
Purdue University

Food Waste and the Environment

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Out of sight out of mind can be a dangerous habit. Learners investigate the life of food waste after it leaves people's homes and its impact on the environment. They complete a series of three activities that involve building a mini...
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Lesson Plan
Pace University

Grade 7 Earth Day Statistics with Circle and Bar Graphs

For Teachers 7th Standards
Take a tiered approach to studying waste. The lesson uses Earth Day to present differentiated instruction around using circle and bar graphs. Each group gets a cube based on their tiers and works collaboratively as well as individually...
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AP Test Prep
College Board

2015 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Less than eight percent of AP Environmental Science test takers earn the highest score possible. Help scholars improve their scores by using actual test questions on water quality and urban planning before reading sample responses that...
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AP Test Prep
College Board

2016 AP® Environmental Science Free-Response Questions

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
The average student scores less than three points, out of five, on the AP Environmental Science test. Most do well on the multiple choice and struggle with the free-response section. Encourage extra free-response practice with actual...
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Unit Plan
Beyond Benign

Municipal Waste Generation

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Statistically, waste may become a problem in the future if people do not take action. Using their knowledge of statistics and data representation, pupils take a look at the idea of waste generation. The four-part unit has class members...
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Lesson Plan
Chymist

Alum from Waste Aluminum Cans

For Students 9th - 12th
Turn aluminum cans into pickles! An engaging experiment has learners chemically change aluminum into a substance with many purposes including the manufacture of pickles. After performing the chemical conversion, the experimenters verify...
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Lesson Plan
Rochester Institute of Technology

Hazmat Disposal

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What a waste! The last installment of a nine-part technology/engineering series teaches learners about medical waste disposal systems. Conducting a simulation allows individuals to understand how monetary considerations constrain waste...
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Lesson Plan
Salt River Project

How Do We Clean Polluted Water?

For Teachers 8th
How do we clean up oil spills and other pollutants in the water? Explore water treatment strategies with a set of environmental science experiments. Groups remove oil from water, work with wastewater treatment, and perform a water...
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Unit Plan
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Environmental Sciences

For Teachers K - 8th Standards
Whether you are teaching environmental science in junior high or studying recycling in kindergarten, there is something for all in this set of lessons designed for environmental education. The 110-page packet comes with tips for teaching...
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Activity
PBS

Waste Audit

For Students 3rd - 7th
Does everything in the trash can belong there? Conduct a waste audit with your class by collecting a day's worth of garbage, separating it into recyclables, non-recyclables, or food waste, and properly distributing what they find into...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

The Trash We Pass

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Is Away?

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students explore garbage. In this landfill lesson, students investigate how much garbage is collected in landfills on average each day. Students discover hazardous materials that are disposed of improperly and the effects of these...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Eco-Healthy Lunch

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students plan healthy lunches and how to dispose of their lunch waste. In this pre-field trip lesson, students and teachers plan healthy, nutritious lunches to bring on a field trip. They also discuss how to sort their garbage into the...