Of all the animals in the oceans, the hammerhead shark may be one of the strangest looking. The exact purpose of the wide, flat head is a mystery, but several theories abound. In this video, we travel to the shark-infested waters of the Galapagos in Ecuador and to a research station in Hawaii to learn about the unusual habits of these sinister-looking sharks. Jonathan swims in schools of hundreds of hammerheads, and yet the sharks ignore him. What are the sharks up to? Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This short video, adapted from NOVA, explains how Earth's position relative to the Sun might be responsible for the dramatic shift in the climate of what is now the Saharan nation of Djibouti.

Students apply their understanding of the natural water cycle and the urban "stormwater" water cycle, as well as the processes involved in both cycles to hypothesize how the flow of water is affected by altering precipitation. Student groups consider different precipitation scenarios based on both intensity and duration. Once hypotheses and specific experimental steps are developed, students use both a natural water cycle model and an urban water cycle model to test their hypotheses. To conclude, students explain their results, tapping their knowledge of both cycles and the importance of using models to predict water flow in civil and environmental engineering designs. The natural water cycle model is made in advance by the teacher, using simple supplies; a minor adjustment to the model easily turns it into the urban water cycle model.

Students will follow the scientific method for self discovery of the nature of the land around the school to then determine as a class what plants and grasses would flourish in the area.

In this video segment, adapted from Navajo Technical College, two Navajo Elders speak about climate change and differences in the environment that they have observed.

Established with the aid of a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant, this project was created to offer insight into what sustainability within agriculture actually looks like. Spread across eastern Nebraska, ten different farming operations are featured across the twenty different videos. Each farmer was interviewed by a high school student from a nearby school about what their operation does, how and why they choose to manage it in a certain way, and what makes it sustainable as well as what would make it more sustainable.

Students will explore the garden environment for examples of organisms having their needs met and will be given an event that might cause that organism to thrive, move or perish.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson introduces students to stop motion animation and educates students on concerns about bird populations in New Jersey.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson incorporates stop motion animation art to deliver a message regarding the reduction of birds in New Jersey. All materials used in the lesson have been verified and are suitable for teaching. In this light, this lesson is credible and recommended for the classroom.

POSITIVES:
-Students practice research and collaboration skills throughout the lesson.
-Students take action by planning a stop motion animation to help protect New Jersey bird species.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 2 of 4 in our 3rd-5th grade Animate for the Animals unit.
-Students will need access to devices to complete the research task.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Student groups could be created by teachers to ensure everyone can access the activities.
-Teachers can support students by viewing the research sources beforehand to determine sources appropriate for lower-level readers.
-You may allow students to find their own sources when conducting research.

Coral reefs are often portrayed as brightly lit, bustling underwater marvels full of colorful creatures. This video segment, adapted from NOVA, paints a different picture as it explores the nocturnal behavior of organisms in the reef.

This video segment adapted from the NOW-RAMP 2002 Expedition documents a research expedition to Nihoa Island. It showcases Nihoa's unique birds and plants, the threat posed by invading grasshoppers, and restoration efforts.

This is an exercise that is used in an undergraduate, non-major course titled "Coral Reefs: Biology, Geology & Policy". The course uses this popular environment as a proxy for environmental decline in general and has two broad goals beyond the course content: 1) to encourage science majors to think about complex environmental problems outside the context of their individual major, and 2) to help non-majors understand the scientific thought process in the context of their own personal interests and opinions.The computer model described here was built to provide a user-friendly interface that is visually stimulating but non-"threatening" to math-phobic students. It runs on FREE software that can be run on any computer. It can be run and modified by an instructor or student with no modeling skills.For this exercise, it demonstrates how losses of grazing fish and/or the addition of nutrients to the reef system will reduce the relative abundance of corals and algae on the reef - leading to eventual decline. The main lessons for the students are:1) If you increase a particular stress, there is often little or no change until suddenly the system rapidly declines.2) If multiple stresses are added, the pattern is more complicated but basically the same. 3) Once the system collapses, simply returning to the "safe" side of the collapse threshold has no result.The Big Picture: All of this is referred to as "non-linearity" and demonstrates that on the reef (as in most natural systems), it's a LOT easier (and cheaper) to not "break it" in the first place than it is to "fit it" once it crashes.
Coral Reefs
Computer Model
Modeling
Environmental change
Diversity
Reef Decline
Anthropogenic Stress

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In this short video segment Native Americans talk about climate change and how it impacts their lives as they experience unexpected changes in environmental conditions. They describe observed changes in seasonality, how these changes affect ecosystems and habitats, their respect for Mother Earth, and the participation of tribal colleges in climate change research projects.

This series of activities uses the Rio Grande ecosystem to promote systems thinking. The concepts for the activities were developed during the Earth Educators' Rendezvous in 2015. Activities E1-E3 were developed by Diane Doser at the University of Texas at El Paso for in-class and homework assignments for a large section of "Introduction to Environmental Science" for college freshman who are primarily non-science majors. The activities revolve around the middle Rio Grande ecosystem near El Paso, Texas. Activities M1-M3 were developed by Gary Weissman at the University of New Mexico as a series of in-class and field activities associated with a lower division course for environmental science majors. This series of activities explores systems thinking as associated with the Middle Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All activities were designed with multicontext diversity in mind, where some activities tap into 'higher' context approaches and others tap into 'lower' context approaches to understanding a system (see Ibarra 2001 for more details or http://serc.carleton.edu/earth_rendezvous/2016/program/morning_workshops/w7/index.html for workshop information from the Earth Educators' Rendezvous 2016 on this approach to diversity). We also take a place based approach, focusing on the local Rio Grande ecosystem, since place based learning has been shown to aid diverse students in understanding course material (Semken, 2005).

We believe these assignments could be adapted for other settings by having the students observe any local ecosystem that they are familiar with such as a nearby river or stream, forest, meadow, sea shore or lake shore or urban park.

Keywords: system thinking, Rio Grande ecosystem, biogeochemical cycles, multicontextual diversity, place based learning, jigsaw activities

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This NOAA video discusses how the ocean absorbs the increased amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, thereby changing the pH and buffering action of the ocean. These changes in pH are impacting calcifying organisms, such as corals and shellfish, and related food chains and ecosystems.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson introduces students to the effects of climate change on animals and their habitats.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson allows students to understand what habitat means and how organisms interact within their range. Students would also be able to classify animals into different habitats, explore the impact of climate change on biodiversity in different ecosystems, and proffer ways to reduce these impacts. All the accompanying materials in the lesson are well-sourced, and this lesson has passed our science credibility review.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson opens up a conversation to discuss climate change through the topics of animals, which younger students can understand.
-This lesson allows students to practice using their agency and voice to make a change in their world.
-This lesson could be extended into a larger research project on specific animals and their habitats.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students may need to review the vocabulary term habitat.
-Students may benefit from a cause and effect lesson prior to this lesson.
-A lesson on observational drawings and analyzing photography could be beneficial for some learners.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-The observation and chart assignments are naturally differentiated due to the inclusion of drawings and/or words. Students can draw or write depending on their level.
-Vocabulary word cards could be used for students who need assistance with vocabulary comprehension.
-Student groups/partners could be picked based on ability level or mixed ability level depending on the purpose of instruction.
-Students could complete the drawings or letters in a digital format as well.
-These articles could be utilized to expand the non-fiction article reading component for students who are able:
-How Does Climate Change Affect the Ocean?
-Learning about Climate from Oceans

This video highlights research conducted at Woods Hole on how heat absorbed by the ocean and changes of ocean chemistry from human activities could lead to a tipping point for marine life and ecosystems. Includes ice bath experiment that models the tipping point of Arctic sea ice.

This unit allows students to investigate past changes in Earth's climate. Students first explore relationships in climate data such as temperature, solar radiation, carbon dioxide, and biodiversity. They then investigate solar radiation in more depth to learn about changes over time such as seasonal shifts. Students then learn about mechanisms for exploring past changes in Earth's climate such as ice cores, tree rings, fossil records, etc. Finally, students tie all these together by considering the feedbacks throughout the Earth system and reviewing an article on a past mass extinction event.

This lesson guides a student inquiry into properties of the ocean's carbonate buffer system, and how changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels may affect ocean pH and biological organisms that depend on calcification.

This video adapted from KTOO explores the impact of oil contamination on the herring population of Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1999, 10 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.