Acid rain, deforestation, waste, and the overconsumption of natural resources are critical ecological issues facing today’s society. Children and teens don’t have to be oblivious; teachers can help them easily understand, analyze and respond to these problems by using the classroom as a laboratory to explore how living creatures affect one another. Lesson plans and WebQuests on creating terrariums, harnessing solar and wind power, and creating alternative fuels abound. These can effectively introduce youngsters, whether in kindergarten or high school, to the intricacies of ecosystems and how human actions can encourage sustainability to yield a better environment.
Elementary Schools
- Aquatic Environments: A lesson plan to guide 3rd grade and 4th grade students in constructing an aquatic habitat in the classroom.
- Global Habitats: A two-day lesson plan for students in 3rd through 5th grade on habitats around the world.
- Biomes: This interactive WebQuest offers a lesson on biomes. Includes task, evaluation, grading rubric, and several resources.
- Rainforest WebQuest: WebQuest on rainforest includes photos, sounds, virtual tour and worksheets.
- Green Fuel: Glencoe Science WebQuest guides students in the study of alternative fuels. Includes full teacher instructions and grading rubric.
- Food Chain: This lesson plan guides students in creating a food web to study natural food chains.
- Trash Cycle: This lesson plan helps classes study waste and its impact on society and living things.
- Making Recycled Paper: This lesson on recycling teaches students how to create their very own recycled paper.
- Renewable Energy: This 3-day lesson plan divides students into groups for the study of sustainability and renewable energy.
- Endangered Species: Biodiversity, wildlife and endangered animals are the focus of this WebQuest by Education World.
Middle Schools
- Acid Rain: This plan uses Petri dishes, plants, stones, and soil to help middle school students examine the impact of acid rain.
- Ecology Basics: This WebQuest includes activities on volcanoes, carbon cycles, and deer. Games and lab suggestions are included.
- Hybrid Vehicles: This McGraw-Hill WebQuest guides high school students in the study of gas emissions from gas-fueled, electric, and hybrid automobiles.
- Bottle Habitat: This lesson plan guides students in using 2-liter bottles to create an aquatic ecosystem that includes plants, fish, and snails.
- Invasive Species: WebQuest offers students an interactive way to explore invasive species such as zebra mussels and sea lampreys. Quest guides students in creating concept maps and pros/cons list.
- Decomposition of Matter: Lesson plan helps students study how organic matter dies and decomposes in the environment, using matter ranging from earthworms to French fries.
- Saving Seeds from the Trash: This lesson demonstrates how seeds from trashed apples, grapefruits, pears, and oranges can be salvaged and planted.
- EcoQuest: WebQuest focuses on changing environment in ecosystems across the world, such as desserts, forests and tundra. Downloadable.
- Pollution: Water pollution is the spotlight of this WebQuest which offers students the chance to analyze wetlands, sewer bacteria, and river life.
- Rotting Logs: Lesson plan uses rotting logs and leaf piles to understand decay in forests and animals that benefit from such decay.
High School
- Wind Power: This four-part lesson plan teaches high school students about windmills as an energy source.
- Water Microbiology: This two-day lesson set explores the spectrum of microorganisms found in one drop of water. Includes hand-outs.
- Cleaning Oil: This lesson plan on the New York Times website can help high school students delve into the basics of cleaning up an oil spill in the ocean.
- Understanding Climate Change: This lesson plan helps students explore evidence behind climate changes. (Click on the tab marked “Lesson.”) Includes a list of resources.
- Plants as the Basis for Medicine: WebQuest on ethnobotanicals offers activities that look at the properties of matter and the interdependence between living things.
- Fossil Fuel: A lesson plan on the study of oil, coal, and gas are part of this high school WebQuest. Includes a list of resources and grading rubric.
- Homemade Greenhouse: This 15-page lesson plan -- complete with activities, lab resources, and worksheets -- directs students to construct their own greenhouses using aquariums in order to study global warming and energy conduction. .
- Ecotourism: The Great Smoky Mountains, a tourist hot spot, is the center of this lesson plan on the significance of national and state parks.
- Acid Mine Drainage: WebQuest looks at soil and rock contaminants and their impact on the overall biosphere.
- Hydrosphere: Lesson plan looks at how the lack of trees and urban development affects flooding and the impact of hurricanes.
Other Ecology Resources
- Biodiversity FAQs: A four-section primer which explains the basics of biodiversity.
- Nature Videos: A gallery of videos by the Nature Channel and PBS showcasing a range of creatures in their natural environment. Includes background information and resource links.
- Online Field Trips: This site offers a range of Web-based field trips which explore animal life and the environment.
- Marine Research: The site, managed by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, offers online education about marine animals, including herring, turtles, and lobsters.
- Natural History: This online nature center by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute offers teachers a natural journal and a nature forum.
- Wetlands: This site by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offers teacher resources on estuaries and wetlands. Includes sections on ecosystems, biology, and human disturbances.
- Field Guides: This ENature.com site offers a range of field guides, many customized for specific locales.
- Environmental Resources: This site by the North American Association for Environmental Education lists professional and classroom resources on the environment for grade school teachers.
- Oil Spill Data: This Environmental Protection Agency site offers a list of resources on oil spills for teachers. Includes links to grants and service projects.
- Ocean Education: This site offers teachers research and data for marine education.
