Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action.
Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action.
Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action.
quarter of the global fish stocks are regarded as overfished, half of these been exploited to the limits of their capacity. Overfishing occurs when more fish are continuously being caught than naturally proliferate. Scientists fear that many stocks will collapse if the politics and management of fisheries do not change drastically. This means that fisheries activities must be coordinated internationally and that fish as a resource must be handled sustainably by law. From an economic perspective, overfishing is a problem which has developed because fish stocks are a common resource. A fish in the sea belongs to everyone; a caught fish belongs only to the fisherman.
The online game ecoOcean addresses this issue and shows that large catches do not necessarily bring the best results. In ecoOcean the players become fishermen and have to develop the best possible strategy for sustainable fishing.
The Idea
The online game ecoOcean was designed in association with the Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean” at Kiel University from the research of the “Sustainable Fisheries” work group.
In “The Future Ocean”, economists, lawyers, fishery biologists, oceanographers and geologists work together on developing new approaches and models for the realisation of a sustainable fisheries management concept.
Explore several ecological relationships with The Amoeba Sisters! Ecological relationships discussed include predation, competition, and symbiotic relationships (parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism).
In the world of ecology, the only constant is change - but change can be good. Today Hank explains ecological succession and how ecological communities change over time to become beautiful, biodiverse mosaics.
Hank brings us to the next level of ecological study with ecosystem ecology, which looks at how energy, nutrients, and materials are getting shuffled around within an ecosystem (a collection of living and nonliving things interacting in a specific place), and which basically comes down to who is eating who.
Students construct model landfill liners using tape and strips of plastic, within resource constraints. The challenge is to construct a bag that is able to hold a cup of water without leaking. This represents similar challenges that environmental engineers face when piecing together liners for real landfills that are acres and acres in size.
During Hurricane Sandy, as the storm surge incapacitated buildings all along the New York and New Jersey coasts, Seagate Seagate Rehabilitation & Nursing Center functioned precisely as planned. At the peak of the storm, floodwaters filled the parking area and reached the lobby door, but did not enter the building. Emergency power generators remained safe and supplied backup power for four days despite an area-wide power outage. The nursing home’s emergency plans for food and medical supplies enabled staff and patients to shelter in place despite limited transportation for incoming supplies. Seagate not only provided continuous care to its residents during and after Sandy, it also assisted local community members seeking food and shelter.
Use this board game to introduce the concepts of energy use in our lives and the very real impact that personal choices can have on our energy consumption, energy bills and fuel supply. The game begins as students select cards that define their modes of transportation and home design. The players roll dice and move around the board, landing on "choice" or "situation" blocks and selecting cards that describe consumer choices and real-life events that impact their energy consumption and annual energy bills. As the players pass gasoline stations or energy bill gates, they must pay annual expenses as defined by their original cards, with amounts altered by the choices they've made along the way. Gasoline cards are collected to represent total consumption. Too many gas-guzzling vehicles can result in total depletion of their gasoline supply – at which point everyone must walk or ride the bus. At the end of the game, the players count their remaining dollars to determine the winner. Discussion questions probe the students to interpret what choices they made and which situations they encountered had the most impact on their energy consumption and energy bills. All game board, card and money files are available online free of charge.
Students are introduced to the idea that energy use impacts the environment and our wallets. They discuss different types of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources, as well as the impacts of energy consumption. Through a series of activities, students understand how they use energy and how it is transformed from one type to another. They learn innovative ways engineers conserve energy and how energy can be conserved in their homes.
In an active way, students discover a few critical facts about how we use energy and how much energy we use. Each student has a "clue," some of which are pertinent energy facts and others are silly statements that are clearly unrelated to the topic. Students mingle and ask each other for clues until they have collected all the facts they need. This provides a more interactive way to communicate energy statistics, compared to a lecture and introduction with board work. The goal is to introduce students to some key terms and issues associated with energy as a necessary prerequisite for the remainder of the unit.
For something we use every day, energy is a pretty mysterious concept. This Lab investigates what energy is, how it can be converted into useful forms, and why some sources are running low. In our Research Challenge, you'll use scientific data to design renewable energy systems for cities across the U.S.—and compete with others to see whose designs can produce the most power.
Students utilize data tables culled from the US DOE Energy Information Agency to create graphs that illustrate what types of energy we use and how we use it. An MS Excel workbook with several spreadsheets of data is provided. Students pick (or the teacher assigns) one of the data tables from which students create plots and interpret the information provided. Student groups share with the class their interpretations and new perspectives on energy resources and use.
Several activities are included to teach and research the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources and various energy resources. The students work with a quantitative, but simple model of energy resources to show how rapidly a finite, non-renewable energy sources can be depleted, whereas renewable resources continue to be available. The students then complete a homework assignment or a longer, in-depth research project to learn about how various technologies that capture energy resources for human uses and their pros and cons. Fact sheets are included to help students get started on their investigation of their assigned energy source.
Fact sheets are provided for several different energy resources as a starting point for students to conduct literature research on the way these systems work and their various pros and cons. Students complete a worksheet for homework or take in-class time for research and presentation of their findings to the class. This approach requires students to learn for themselves and teach each other, rather than having the teacher lecture about the subject matter.
Posters are provided for several different energy conversion systems. Students are provided with cards that give the name and a description of each of the components in an energy system. They match these with the figures on the diagram. Since the groups look at different systems, they also describe their results to the class to share their knowledge.
Students discover that they already know a lot about energy through their own life experiences. As active consumers of various forms of energy, they are aware of energy purchases for electricity, home heating/cooling and transportation. Through the pedagogical technique of a "carousel," all students become involved in brainstorming and contributing ideas. The goal is to introduce students to key terms and issues associated with energy, as a prerequisite for the rest of the unit.
Sea level rise is changing the shoreline of San Francisco Bay, endangering homes, habitats, and vital infrastructure. Stakeholders from a diverse array of sectors around the Bay are participating in preparations through a regional partnership.
This unit consists of five lessons and is recommended for grades 5-8. The five lessons consist of:The Cat's Out of the Bag - students investigate the morphology, physical characteristics, and physical adaptations of four cat speciesMountain Mixer - students participate in a role playing, systems thinking activity to understand the relationships among species before constructing a food webIt Takes All Kinds of People - students participate in a town hall meeting in an effort to reach a concensus regarding conservation plansWhat's the Plan? - students explore the emerging issues through simulation activitiesTaking Action - students are led through a service-learning project of their choosing to raise money to donate*Planet earth videos referenced in the activities are available on YouTube.