ENVIRONMENT DAY 5TH JUNE
RESEARCH PROJECT
What Is the Most Serious
Problem Facing Earth?
In this special Environment Day project, student teams have to found a fictional organization showing the most serious environmental problems menacing the earth or environment. They will include a logo and a name for the organization gathering the main points on a mural.
BEFORE STARTING THE PROJECT
Before beginning the project, draw up a plan for organizing students into cooperative teams. All team members will serve as researchers, gathering information related to the topic and sharing the information with their team. At the start of the project, assign one of the environmental threat to each team member.
Environmental threats students will consider include: - Vanishing species: causes and consequences….
- Overflowing landfills: garbage examples, how to eliminate garbage, recycling…
- Air pollution: ozone layer, acid rain, causes of it, how to reduce it, effect of air pollution….
- Rain forest destruction: global warming, greenhouse effect, acid rain, deforestation, causes and consequences ….
- Water pollution: sources of water pollution, diseases, oil pollution, nuclear waste, pesticide, causes and consequences, how to avoid it..
- Energy depletion: how to use and save energy…
- Other problems as desired: natural catastrophes, causes, how to avoid them….
Air Pollution  | |
* Environmental Explorers Club: Air http://www.epa.gov/kids/air.htm * World Almanac for Kids: The Air We Breathe http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=wak-009007 * Air Quality: Just for Kids http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/kids/Kids_Page.htm * Clean Air Kids: Air Quality http://www.clean-air-kids.org.uk/airquality.html On the Trail of the Missing Ozone http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/missoz/ What's All the Fuss About Air Pollution? http://www.hcdoes.org/airquality/kids/Pollution.htm Cars and Trucks and Air Pollution: Clean Vehicles http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/vehicle_impacts/cars_pickups_and_suvs/cars-trucks-air-pollution.html The Science of Ozone Depletion http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/ | |
Energy Depletion  | |
| * Energy Information Administration Kids Page http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/ * Kids Saving Energy http://www.eere.energy.gov/kids/ * Department of Energy for Students & Kids http://www.energy.gov/forstudentsandkids.htm * Energy Guide for Kids http://tiki.oneworld.net/energy/energy.html * Energy Star Kids http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=kids.kids_index * Touchstone Energy Kids Zone http://www.touchstoneenergykids.com/ * Alliant Energy Kids http://www.powerhousekids.com/KIDS/index.htm | |
Overflowing Landfills  | |
* Environmental Explorers Club: Garbage and Recycling http://www.epa.gov/kids/garbage.htm * The Rotten Truth About Garbage http://www.astc.org/exhibitions/rotten/rthome.htm Trash and Climate Change http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/k00-001.pdf Garbage: How Can My Community Reduce Solid Waste? http://www.learner.org/exhibits/garbage/intro.html Looking Into Landfills http://www.acnatsci.org/research/kye/landfills.html Brown County Landfill Kids Page: Fun Factoids http://www.browncountylandfill.com/kid.html | |
Rain Forest Destruction  | |
* Rainforest Heroes http://www.rainforestheroes.com * Amazon Interactive http://www.eduweb.com/amazon.html * Take a Walk in the Rain Forest http://www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/rainwalk.html * Rain Forest Rescue http://www.arborday.org/programs/RainForestRescue.html Tropical Rainforest Information for Kids http://kids.mongabay.com/ Rain Forest Action Network http://www.ran.org/ Rain Forest Facts http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm | |
Vanishing Species  | |
* Kids Planet E-Species Animal Fact Sheets http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html * Endangered: Exploring a World at Risk http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/Endangered/index.html Endangered Animals: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Animals and Mammals http://www.animalinfo.org/ Endangered Species (World Wildlife Fund) http://www.worldwildlife.org/endangered/index.cfm Fish and Wildlife Species http://species.fws.gov/ Endangered Species at EE Link http://eelink.net/EndSpp/ | |
Water Pollution  | |
* Water Pollution Kids Page http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/NPS/kids/ * Environmental Explorers Club: Water http://www.epa.gov/kids/water.htm * Especially for Kids: Clean Water http://www.oceansidecleanwaterprogram.org/kids.asp Clean Water: Water Pollution http://www.chewonki.org/cleanwater/water_pollution.asp InfoPlease: Water Pollution http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0851609.html The Quality of Our Nation's Water (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/305b/ | |
SETTING UP THE PROJECT WITH STUDENTS: THE TASK
Members of each team look for the required information using online and library resources to gather background information about the issue at hand. Each member will be responsible for investigating the threat to earth´s environment that has been assigned and they write an essay with the information. Once they collect it, they gather team members´s notes and discuss about the most important information collected. Finally, they record the information on a mural. Students share what they know about each problem. They write the information they provide under the appropriate heading showing the points on a mural and including the name of the organization, the logo, pictures…Now it is time to prepare the oral presentation writing a common final essay.
TIMING
This project will be distributed into 11 sessions of 60-minute class period:
Day 1-2-3: They bring the information from home and share it (Each team member writes a short essay).
Day 4-5-6: Team members make the mural.
Day 7-8: Students prepare the oral presentation (They write a final essay).
Day 9-10-11: Oral presentation.
Day 12: Teams´assessment.
ASSESSMENT
Each team´s oral presentation will be expose to the class and teacher. Each group can also evaluate the other projects filling in an evaluation chart. Teachers will also assess the group taking into account: The information, the content, the mural itself, the oral presentation and final essay. Teachers´evaluation chart.
