This BioBulletin Web site takes an in-depth look at mangrove ecosystems. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interactives. The collection of essays explores the importance of these remarkably diverse ecosystems, examines why mangroves have disappeared with alarming speed, the reasons why it is difficult to preserve them and the diverse species that rely on mangroves. The work of an innovative grassroots organization in southern Thailand in profiled.

In this video, Michael Mann and Peter Ramsdorf explore some of the information from the 2013 IPCC 5th report in light of public perceptions of climate science.

In this video, Jonathan travels to the Micronesian island of Yap in the middle of the Pacific to investigate large gatherings of the world's largest ray‰ŰÓthe manta. A research program there is tracking dozens of these animals and Jonathan learns what they're doing hanging around certain coral heads every morning. Please see the accompanying lesson plan on tides for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum/Geology of National Parks module. Students work with a color-coded conditional-formatted spreadsheet map to work through a USGS report applying a coastal vulnerability index, examining real data related to relative sea-level change for different areas of the Californian coas,t including Point Reyes National Seashore.

Students will choose a physical place to study, a site that is close enough to visit at least four times during the quarter/semester. Using writing prompts, text-based research, and close observations in the "field" (the chosen place), students will create a "mashup" of spatially referenced pop-up balloons. These will include researched and narrative prose, citations and links, and some visual images, embedded into a map via Google Earth technology. Through this unique presentation, the research and writing can encourage viewers to better understand the place they have chosen to study.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this activity, students will learn the difference between sea ice and glaciers in relation to sea level rise. They will create and explore topographic maps as a means of studying sea level rise and how it will affect Alaska's coastline.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Ruminants have long been important in agriculture due to their ability to convert fibrous plant substrates into foods we can digest, like milk and meat. This unique digestive ability is directly tied to their gastrointestinal microbiome, which has made their microbiome a subject of interest to nutritionists, microbiologists, and physiologists. However, most microbiome research to date has focused on the rumen, and we lack a comprehensive map of the microbial diversity throughout their gastrointestinal tract (GIT). A recent study characterized the microbiome across the GIT by sampling 10 GIT regions in 7 ruminant species. In addition to common agricultural species, they sampled water buffalo, yak, roe deer, and water deer. Using this data, they constructed a microbial reference catalog with over 154 million nonredundant genes and over 10,000 metagenome-assembled genomes. They identified 8,745 uncultured candidate species, which encode genes that play key roles in ruminant digestion..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this activity students use NASA satellite data to study changes in temperature and snow-ice coverage in the South Beaufort Sea, Alaska. They will then correlate the data with USGS ground tracking of polar bears and relate their findings to global change, sea ice changes, and polar bear migration and survival.

Market to Market is a part of the Iowa Public Television. The website includes videos of feature stories and market analysis by analyst Ted Seifried. In addition, there is Market to Market in the classroom where there are videos on business, technology and science of agriculture.

In this JAVA-based interactive modeling activity, students are introduced to the concepts of mass balance, flow rates, and equilibrium using a simple water bucket model. Students can vary flow rate into the bucket, initial water level in the bucket, and residence time of water in the bucket. After running the model, the bucket's water level as a function of time is presented graphically and in tabular form.

Students utilize their understanding of ecosystems, economic cost, and culture to make a stewardship decision.

The Mathematics of Nutrition Science is a workbook designed to integrate and contextualize developmental mathematics into an introductory college level Nutrition class. Definitions and skills from Community College Level Elementary Algebra and Quantitative Literacy courses are explained through examples analyzing the nutritional content of different foods. The book contains exercises for students to practice these skills, and also to reflect on the concepts through short writing assignments aligned with developmental English. These materials could be used by Nutrition course instructor in many different ways, and are designed to be self-contained and require minimal mathematical instruction.

In this activity, students use datasets from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres to observe seasonal and hemispheric differences in changes to atmospheric C02 release and uptake over time.

Students are introduced to the concept of light pollution by investigating the nature, sources and levels of light in their classroom environment. They learn about the adverse effects of artificial light and the resulting consequences on humans, animals and plants: sky glow, direct glare, light trespass, animal disorientation and energy waste. Student teams build light meters using light sensors mounted to LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT intelligent bricks and then record and graph the light intensity emitted in various classroom lighting situations. They are introduced to the engineering concepts of sensors, lux or light meter, and lumen and lux (lx) illuminance units. Through this activity, students also learn how to better use light and save energy as well as some of the technologies designed by engineers to reduce light pollution and energy waste.

This kit explores how sustainability within the Finger Lakes region of New York has been presented in the media with a particular focus on issues related to food, water and agriculture. Each of the seven lessons integrates media literacy and critical thinking with key knowledge and concepts related to sustainability. This kit is a companion to the nineteen-lesson collection, Media Constructions of Sustainability: Food, Water and Agriculture.

This kit explores how sustainability has been presented in the media with a particular focus on issues related to food, water and agriculture. Each of the 19 lessons integrates media literacy and critical thinking into lessons about different aspect of sustainability. Constant themes throughout the kit include social justice, climate change, energy, economics and unintended consequences.

This course will survey the conditions of material life and changing social and economic conditions in medieval Europe with reference to the comparative context of contemporary Islamic, Chinese, and central Asian experiences. Subject covers the emergence and decline of feudal institutions, the transformation of peasant agriculture, living standards and the course of epidemic disease, and the ebb and flow of long-distance trade across the Eurasian system. Particular emphasis will be placed on the study of those factors, both institutional and technological, which have contributed to the emergence of capitalist organization and economic growth in Western Europe in contrast to the trajectories followed by the other major medieval economies.

This lesson plan explores the difference between good and poor quality feedstuffs by learning the functions of feed, identifying feed types and characteristics, and identifying how animals are fed. Lesson plan from the New Mexico Animal, Plant, and Soil Science Lesson Plan Library.

This lesson includes lectures about meeting the nutritional needs of animals to maintain animal performance, analyze feedstuffs for quality, and determine whether or not a feed ration fulfills a given animal’s nutrient requirements. From New Mexico Animal, Plant, and Soil Science Lesson Plan Library. 

This activity uses a mix of multimedia resources and hands-on activities to support a storyline of investigation into melting sea and land ice.