Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity
Standard: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
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Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity
Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and using energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
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Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity
Standard: Use the results of a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
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Learning Domain: Life Science
Topic: Environment
Standard: Using data from a specific ecosystem, explain relationships or make predictions about how environmental disturbance (human impact or natural events) affects the flow of energy or cycling of matter in an ecosystem.
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Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences
Topic: Human Sustainability
Standard: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity. [Clarification Statement: Examples of key natural resources include access to fresh water (such as rivers, lakes, and groundwater), regions of fertile soils such as river deltas, and high concentrations of minerals and fossil fuels. Examples of natural hazards can be from interior processes (such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes), surface processes (such as tsunamis, mass wasting and soil erosion), and severe weather (such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts). Examples of the results of changes in climate that can affect populations or drive mass migrations include changes to sea level, regional patterns of temperature and precipitation, and the types of crops and livestock that can be raised.]
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Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences
Topic: Human Sustainability
Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.* [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the conservation, recycling, and reuse of resources (such as minerals and metals) where possible, and on minimizing impacts where it is not. Examples include developing best practices for agricultural soil use, mining (for coal, tar sands, and oil shales), and pumping (for petroleum and natural gas). Science knowledge indicates what can happen in natural systems—not what should happen.]
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Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences
Topic: Human Sustainability
Standard: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity. [Clarification Statement: Examples of Earth systems to be considered are the hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and/or biosphere. An example of the far-reaching impacts from a human activity is how an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide results in an increase in photosynthetic biomass on land and an increase in ocean acidification, with resulting impacts on sea organism health and marine populations.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include running computational representations but is limited to using the published results of scientific computational models.]
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I like that this is a unit about something that directly affects the students (whether or not they understand that fully) because I think that makes it easier for students to analyze and really think about the effects and care about the causes. I think that this is a really interesting way to incorporate science with literacy in a language arts class (as opposed to putting language arts in a science class).
This lesson is impressive in its real-world applications. Fresh water is a precious natural resource and, living in the northeast, our students don't always realize what a problem lack of water can be (we don't have droughts) This gives a good view of what others need to deal with and gives all of the information necessary to figure it out!
This lesson is remarkably comprehensive, including more resources than the students would be able to exhaust, which I think is great! I remember being in college and needing to pare down the amount of information I had into what was most applicable to the situation. I can envision adapting the lesson to be more student led and providing them with all of the various resources and having them figure out which to use and come up with some type of investigational activity, or something. Cool ideas! Thanks :)
This is a eye opening lesson for many students. Clean, safe drinking water is a natural resource we take for granted in many parts of the United States. This lesson gives students the opportunity to use graphs, maps, and articles from excellent sources such as the EPA and National Geographic. The inclusion of the water footprint quiz makes it easy for students to learn how they, as individuals, impact our water supply. It is a very comprehensive lesson exploring
how we are hurting our water supply and how we can help solve the problem
Madeleine Wright
This is an amazing comprehensive lesson that includes a wide variety of resources that is very thorough from the preliminary activities to the conclusion of the lesson. I like the variety of activities that are included and the chance for collaboration with the students while using a variety of digital tools like Noodletools and Google Apps. The resources used were very reputable and there was a vast amount of websites listed for a diversity of users.
This lesson provides students the opportunity to have "omg" moments as they explore a multitude of concerns about an eco-crisis they might not even know exists. This lesson is very comprehensive, hitting on a variety of learning styles, skills, inquiry, and collaboration. Students have the opportunity to explore depth of a topic, in which they realize their own accountability for their actions and their current patterns of living.
This unit focuses on a very timely, globally-focused topic: water. It is something so common that it is often taken for granted, with little consideration given to the impacts that human beings and our behaviors are having on it globally. In this unit there is the ability to focus on the topic both locally as well as applying a broader global view to the subject. Additionally, there are "practical skills" that are woven in such as map reading, and collecting information from graphs and charts which is something I find lacking today. A wide variety of activities threaded together to create and exciting and informative project!
This unit includes a very extensive list of valuable links to resources. It would be interesting to compare student results from different parts of the country and/or the world. For instance, students in California compare their "water footprints" to students in NH or students in Australia. S. Heimberg