Students will use online videos and photo galleries to conduct a virtual bolus dissection for the Laysan albatross and learn how marine debris can be mistaken for food and harm marine organisms.
Students observe and discuss a vacuum cleaner model of a baghouse to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
Students observe demonstrations, and build and evaluate simple models to understand the greenhouse effect, the role of increased greenhouse gas concentration in global warming, and the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves and the Earth. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how a bill becomes law and research global warming legislation.
Students observe and discuss a cup and pencil model of a cyclone to better understand the science behind how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.
In this activity, students use chocolate candies to create pie graphs that show their understanding of the composition of air. They discuss why knowing this information is important to engineers and how engineers use this information to improve technology to better care for our planet.
Science and education experts caution that climate-change topics can overwhelm and frighten young children. Science lessons chosen for this article focus on general environmental issues, such as the effects of litter, air pollution, and water pollution. The lessons also include actions and solutions to environmental issues. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle focuses on integrating age-appropriate science learning with literacy experiences.
This short film, in English and Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, chronicles FLOAT, a project that puts both the playful and practical heritage of kites to work convincing Beijing residents that monitoring the city's air quality can be as simple as child's play.
During this activity, students will learn how environmental engineers monitor water quality in resource use and design. They will employ environmental indicators to assess the water quality of a nearby stream. Students will make general observations of water quality as well as count the number of macroinvertabrates. They will then use the information they collected to create a scale to rate how good or bad the water quality of the stream. Finally, the class will compare their numbers and discuss and defend their results.
The Take Action column in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle suggests actions young people (K-grade 5) can take to reduce the impacts of climate change. The magazine examines the recognized essential principles of climate literacy and the climate sciences as well as the guiding principle for informed climate decisions.
Looking at transportation and the environment, students learn that some human-made creations, such as vehicles, can harm the environment. They also learn about alternative fuels and vehicles designed by engineers to minimize pollution. The associated hands-on activity gives students a chance to design their own eco-friendly vehicle.
Groundwater is one of the largest sources of drinking water, so environmental engineers need to understand groundwater flow in order to tap into this important resource. Environmental engineers also study groundwater to predict where pollution from the surface may end up. In this lesson, students will learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow.
This online book examines how contaminants are released by incineration, environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure, approaches for assessing possible human health effects, and scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book may be read for free online in HTML or PDF formats, printed from a PDF file, or hard copies may be ordered from the site.
The 11 books selected for inclusion in the issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle devoted to climate studies range from easy readers to biographies. Each book is briefly described; all were reviewed for accuracy and appropriate reading levels for students in grades K-5. Several books deal with careers in meteorology.
Students develop awareness and understanding of the daily air quality using the Air Quality Index (AQI) listed in the newspaper. They explore what engineers can do to help reduce poor air quality.
Students learn about physical models of groundwater and how environmental engineers determine possible sites for drinking water wells. During the activity, students create their own groundwater well models using coffee cans and wire screening. They add red food coloring to their models to see how pollutants can migrate through the groundwater into a drinking water resource.
In this lesson, students develop an understanding of the effects of invisible air pollutants with a rubber band and hanger air test and a bean plant experiment. They also learn about methods of reducing invisible air pollutants.
This encyclopedia entry is for the term "ozone layer." The ozone layer is one layer of the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth?s atmosphere. The stratosphere is the mass of protective gases clinging to our planet. This entry discusses what the ozone layer does for us and how we are impacting the layer. Text for this entry is appropriate for the middle and high school grade levels.