The purpose of this resource is to observe plant green-down and report greendown data to help validate estimates of the end of the plant growing season. Students monitor the change in color of selected leaves of trees, shrubs or grasses.

The purpose of this resource is to observe plant green-up and report data that will be used by scientists to validate satellite estimates of the beginning of the plant growing season. Students monitor budburst and growth of leaves of selected trees, shrubs, or grasses. Species chosen should be native, deciduous, and dominant in your area.

This activity relates water temperature to fishery health within inland freshwater watersheds as a way to explore how environmental factors of an ecosystem affect the organisms that use those ecosystems as important habitat.

In this lab activity, students use brine shrimp as a proxy for krill to study how environmental factors impact behavioral responses of krill in the unique environment of Antarctica.

This sequence of activities using real-world data to explain the importance of coral reefs and the relationship of coral reef health to the surrounding environment. Unit includes five activities.

The goal of this activity is to understand how techniques of persuasion (including background, supporting evidence, storytelling and the call to action) are used to develop an argument for or against a topic. Students develop an environmental case study for presentation and understand how a case study is used as an analysis tool.

This unit explores Performance Expectations MS- LS2-4, LS2-5 by having students collect local ecosystems data with a variety of computational tools: pH sensors, turbidity, oxygen levels and temperature – and to develop a presentation to communicate how and why their stream is a healthy habitat, or not!

This unit explores Performance Expectations MS- LS2-4, LS2-5 by having students collect local ecosystems data with a variety of computational tools: pH sensors, turbidity, oxygen levels and temperature – and to develop a presentation to communicate how and why their stream is a healthy habitat, or not!

The objective of this lesson is to teach kids about food advertising. To compare and contrast the portrayal of real food versus processed food in the media.

The purpose of the resource is to investigate changes in the major land cover types of Study Sites by examining Landsat satellite images acquired years apart.

Phenomena: DDT was a commonly-used pesticide for insect control in the United States until it was cancelled in 1972 by the United State Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  DDT was initially used by the military in WWII to control malaria, typhus, body lice, and bubonic plague. Populations of fish eating birds, fish, plant life in certain ecosystems were affected by the use of this chemical and other similar ones.Storyline: Students at a school nearby the Delaware Bay noticed a change in osprey population.  The students wanted to figure out why this was happening. The students decided as a class to research, collect data, and explain why the environmental changes were occurring.PE Alignment: MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resources availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystemMS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.  MS-LS1-7 Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism

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

In this activity from NOAA's Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection, learners investigate how methane hydrates might have been involved with the Cambrian explosion.

Students design systems that use microbes to break down a water pollutant (in this case, sugar). They explore how temperature affects the rate of pollutant decomposition.

What do Prairie Chickens Need in Order to Survive Today's Prairie?

This middle school unit covering ecosystems, animal behavior and symbiosis was developed through the Storyline approach. Middle school students will be figuring out why prairie chickens have a very unique dance and understand the role cows play to help ensure the dance takes place. Using this approach, students engage in science concepts to help ensure the survival of the prairie chicken.

Mosquito! is a freely available community research guide developed by the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) in partnership with the InterAcademy Partnership as part of the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project. These Smithsonian Science for Global Goals community research guides use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to focus on sustainable actions that are defined and implemented by students.

Mosquito! is a module broken up into seven parts. Each part contains a series of tasks to complete. Each task contains additional resources to support that task. We have provided a suggested order for the parts and tasks. However, the structure of the guide hopefully allows you to customize your learning experience by selecting which parts, tasks, and resources you would like to utilize and in what order you would like to complete them.

The original Native American story component lesson was developed as part of an Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) project funded through an EPA Region 10 grant. The stories were told by Roger Fernandes of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. Mr. Fernandes has been given permission by the tribes to tell these stories.As these lessons and stories were shared prior to the adoption of the Washington State Science Learning Standards in 2013, there was a need to align these stories with the current science standards. This resource provides a current alignment and possible lesson suggestions on how these stories can be incorporated into the classroom. This alignment work has been funded by the NGSS & Climate Science Proviso of the Washington State Legislature as a part of North Central Educational Service District's award.

Students are introduced to acids and bases, and the environmental problem of acid rain. They explore ways to use indicators to distinguish between acids and bases. Students also conduct a simple experiment to model and discuss the harmful effects of acid rain on our living and non-living environment, as well as how engineers address acid rain. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how persuasive techniques are used to develop an argument, and create an environmental case study.

Our project involves students learning about the values of a natural area in their community and producing a public service announcement and map to show its value and how it could be developed.