This unit examines how energy systems, water and soil resources, and human activities interact to shape ecosystem health and sustainability. Students investigate pollution sources and mitigation (air, water, waste, chemicals), assess ecosystem indicators and historical case studies, and design evidence-based conservation and resource-management solutions.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze relationships among energy sources (fossil fuels, solar, geothermal, nuclear) and their formation, emissions, and sustainability trade-offs using quantitative greenhouse gas and resource-cycle indicators
- Evaluate the ecological impacts of human activities—including pollution, pesticides, invasive species, and land-use change—by interpreting indicator species, biodiversity patterns, and historical/environmental case studies
- Apply field and laboratory techniques to assess environmental quality by measuring water properties (including pH), soil health parameters, and key air and contaminant indicators, then interpret results to identify risks
- Develop and defend integrated conservation and waste-management plans that incorporate risk assessment, wastewater treatment/constructed wetlands, reduce/reuse/recycle/compost strategies, and ethical/policy considerations
Curriculum
- 1 Section
- 34 Lessons
- 30 hours
Expand all sectionsCollapse all sections
- Unit 3 — Resources, Impacts, and Sustainability34
- 1.1Bluefin Tuna20 mins
- 1.2Keeping Things Habitable20 mins
- 1.3Recognizing Good Science When You See It20 mins
- 1.4Surveying the Properties of Water20 mins
- 1.5Converting the Sun’s Energy to a Useable Form20 mins
- 1.6The Overall Goal: Seeking Sustainability20 mins
- 1.7From Indicator Species to Ecosystem Engineers: Filling Every Niche20 mins
- 1.8Counting Greenhouse Gases20 mins
- 1.9Creating Fresh Water20 mins
- 1.10Creating Effective Conservation Plans20 mins
- 1.11Digging in the Dirt: Components of Healthy Soil20 mins
- 1.12Forming and Depleting Fossil Fuels20 mins
- 1.13Getting Steamed: Geothermal Energy20 mins
- 1.14The Air in There: Watching Out for Indoor Air Pollution20 mins
- 1.15Disrupting Ecosystems20 mins
- 1.16Risky Business: Assessing the Dangers of Chemicals20 mins
- 1.17Swimming in Waste: The Ocean Garbage Patches20 mins
- 1.18Tripling the Bottom Line20 mins
- 1.19Movers and Shakers: Indigenous Activists around the World20 mins
- 1.20Stockholm Declaration20 mins
- 1.21Passenger Pigeons20 mins
- 1.22Imagining the Future20 mins
- 1.23Knowing There Are Different Ways of Knowing20 mins
- 1.24What’s pH Got to Do with It? Acids and Bases20 mins
- 1.25To Be or Not to Be a Tree-Hugger: Looking Past Political Debates20 mins
- 1.26Working Together: Biological Communities20 mins
- 1.27Considering Past, Present, and Future Climates20 mins
- 1.28The Pitfalls of Pesticides20 mins
- 1.29Reacting to Nuclear Energy20 mins
- 1.30Soaking Up the Sun: Solar Energy20 mins
- 1.31Clearing the Air20 mins
- 1.32Breaking with Tradition: Wastewater Treatment and Constructed Wetlands20 mins
- 1.33Tracking Infectious Disease20 mins
- 1.34Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (and Compost): Shrinking the Waste Stream20 mins
Instructor
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