Curated OER
Lesson Plan: Humans and the Land
Art acts as inspiration for a conversation about human impact on the environment and creative writing. The class examines three pieces, looking for evidence of human impact on the landscape. They then write a first-person narrative, from...
North Haven Middle School
Environmental Expert Presentation
Individuals or groups select an environmental issue, then spend time researching and creating a presentation to share in class. By allowing learners to choose the issue that matters most to them, you will motivate them to do excellent...
Curated OER
Lesson: Differing World Views: Human and Animals
Kids challenge their understanding of the world around them and consider the impact man has on the environment and animal life. They examine a Tlingit piece, read two Tlingit stories about man and animals, then participate in a research...
Curated OER
Human Impacts on Major Rivers of the World
Learners explore motivations behind human intervention in the stream flow of selected rivers, infer kinds of interventions and their results, and evaluate level of success of such interventions of stream flow as well as environmental...
Advocates for Human Rights
The Right to a Clean Environment in the United States
Even if a school has gone digital, chances are there's still plenty of paper being used. The three activities help scholars learn about the environmental impact of paper and another consumer products of their choosing, the issue of...
Curated OER
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...
Curated OER
Environmentally Friendly Community
In cooperative groups, learners research and report on the environmental friendliness of the local community. They consider water protection and disposal, waste management, energy supply, public transportation, and more. This lesson plan...
Curated OER
Human Impacts on Sharks: Developing an Essay Through Peer-Review on a Discussion Board
Students develop a paper topic (in this case, the human impacts on sharks) that is peer reviewed by additional students answering guided questions. The original student must respond to the comments by the fellow classmates. All of the...
Population Connection
The Human-Made Landscape
Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate Change
Scholars become experts on the eight major impacts of climate change through a jigsaw and grand conversation. They then research and present what they learned about effects specific to their region.
ARKive
Human Impact on the Environment
Study the ways that humans have impacted the environment, particularly the spread of plastic waste. After watching a short film about the Laysan albatross population, learners complete a worksheet and research other ways that plastic...
Curated OER
Ecology Integration Using IMovie
Amazing! Any 5th grader would be more than willing to participate in this project. Students are broken into groups, each group reads one book from a list of five. They use their book as the basis for choosing an animal and environment to...
Kenan Fellows
The Little Stuff Can Make a Big Difference
Great things come in small packages! What better way to illustrate this point than a week-long look at nanotechnology? Earth science scholars explore water quality issues through lab activities, then research new innovations in nanotech...
Alliance Theater
The Jungle Book Post-Show STEAM Lesson
An ecosystem is really just the flow of energy through many different living organisms. A study of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book leads to an environmental science activity in which learners study how various factors can affect...
Curated OER
How Can Children Make A Difference In Their World As Human Rights Activists?
Students define term activist, identify and analyze contributions of activists of the past, realize that students can make a difference in their world, identify personal characteristics of students activists, recognize impact on...
Curated OER
Trembling, Spewing Earth: Impacts on Human Activity
Seventh graders study to identify patterns in earthquake activity and impacts on human behavior. They also develop plans to cope with such natural disasters.
Curated OER
Nature and Fitness Trail
Students plan stations for a nature and fitness trail and construct an accompanying e-Book for extended descriptions at each station. Data on the human impact on the environment is gathered in this lesson.
Curated OER
Treasures in Jeopardy
In small groups, middle schoolers research deep-sea coral reefs and design a poster to educate the public about their importance. They compare them to shallow-water reefs and consider the impact of bottom-trawl fishing. Many internet...
PBS
Technology: Conveniences and Consequences
It's a delicate balance—using technology to improve our lives while still protecting the environment, and ourselves, from the hazards of technology use. Class members examine statistics about the increase in media use, complete a survey...
Indiana Department of Education
Amusement of the Future
Take your class on the ride of their lives! Physical science scholars get an in-depth look at potential and kinetic energies in an amusement park-themed unit. Students research, design, and promote their own amusement parks, complete...
Curated OER
The Affect of Water Temperature on Living Organisms
Young scholars examine the environmental impact of global warming. For this environmental science lesson, students design and conduct an experiment about the effect of temperature on paramecia. They write a lab report about their...
Curated OER
Itaipu Dam and Power Plant (Brazil and Paraguay)
Learners study South America's Itaipu Dam and Power Plant in order to gain an understanding that hydroelectric power is a major means of generating electricity throughout the world. They also look into the environmental impacts that...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services
The fourth activity in a series of five has classes participate in a jigsaw to learn about global impacts of climate change and then share their new information with a home group. Groups then research impacts of climate change (droughts,...
Curated OER
When Nature Strikes: Natural Hazards Safety
Young scholars observe the impact of natural disasters on humans, and become aware of the dangers of environmental hazards such as flash floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes.