English

Oral Language 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 8.2

Reading/Literature 6.5, 7.6, 7.7, 8.6

Writing 6.6, 6.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8.7, 8.8

Mathematics

Probability and Statistics 6.18, 6.19, 7.16, 7.17, 7.18, 8.12

Science

Scientific Investigation, Reasoning and Logic 6.1

Resources 6.9

Life Science LS.1, LS.7, LS.8, LS.11, LS.12

MS.10: Evaluation of community needs

MS.11: Roles and responsibilities of citizens

MS.12: Stewardship

An Environmental Study

The purpose of this activity is to make students more aware of the environmental issues in their community.

Steps To Complete the Activity

Have students

• Brainstorm to identify environmental issues that affect their class, school, or community. Examples may include studying the pollution in a local stream, the human impact upon the pollution, the causes of pollution, and the depletion of natural resources.
• Choose an issue to study. Research should include problems caused by the individual, the school, or the community.
• Present their findings to the class, the school, or the local community.
• Write a paper on their research, collect data to graph, interpret, and analyze. The results could be used to make presentations (which include the problem, research, experiment, and solution) to the peer group, administration, or school board. This project could become larger as a student or a group of students incorporate their watershed and then make presentations to a local or state government.

Instructional Materials and Resources

Students may refer to any of the following: local soil and water conservation data information; Environmental Protection Agency; Environment Export Council; the Internet; textbooks; school and local libraries. Students may also refer to the following web site: http://www.projectwild.org