A town board based classroom scenario where students decide what to do with a parcel of land on the shoreline of a lake. Various interested parties try to purchase, but must answer town board questions in the process. Real issues of land-use, resource allocation, ethics, planning, and impacts.

This online quiz on sustainable development can be used in French language classes to prepare intermediate-level students for discussions on environmental topics. The resource is excellent for immersion and content-based instruction.

This video provides an overview of the research of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on converting biomass to liquid fuels.

In this activity, students work through the process of evaluating the feasibility of photovoltaic solar power in 4 different US cities.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum activity/Introductory Ecology course. Students build and manipulate spreadsheets to model and graph populations using the Lotka-Volterra predator-prey equations.

This activity is a field investigation where students will compare the biodiversity of two separate habitats based on the collection and identification of insects.

The purpose of this resource is to measure and classify the plant life at a Land Cover Site to help determine the MUC classification.

This module considers sustainability with respect to water, food, agriculture, forestry and energy. For each of these elements of sustainability, the module illustrates why their sustainable management is important, given that we are living within finite environmental limits. A novel aspect of the module is that in most sessions you update your own personal blog (or offline document), which can be used to provide a record of your opinions on sustainability, details on your awareness of sustainability, and specific examples of sustainability. The module is assessed by means of producing and presenting a poster at an internal “Sustainability Conference”.

Dr Simon Gosling, University of Nottingham.

My main interests are in understanding the impacts of climate change on natural and human systems, and bridging the boundary between physical science and impact and policy-related areas.

Much of my current research investigates the potential impact of climate change on global- and catchment-scale hydrology and water resources. I am interested in understanding how average conditions and extremes (floods and droughts) might be affected by climate change. I apply a variety of climate and hydrological numerical models to achieve this. I also have strong interests in modelling the relationship between climate and human health; specifically, on the association between extreme temperature events (heat waves and cold snaps) and temperature-related mortality.

This online article, from Biodiversity Counts, is a guide to finding local specialists who are knowledgeable about plants and arthropods. It includes: an overview of how local specialists can be of help; a link to the Directory of Local Specialists, a list of specialists who have agreed to work with participating schools; a list of additional organizations, with links to Web sites, that are good sources for local specialists; tips on how to find local specialists from Linda Beyt, a middle school teacher in Louisiana and a Biodiversity Counts mentor; and tips for enlisting volunteers by Karen Spaulding, a middle school teacher in Massachusetts and a Biodiversity Counts mentor.

As students study the impact of immigrants and the development of the United States, regionally and as a whole, early South Asian immigration should be discussed. Early South Asian immigrants played a significant role in the nation’s economic and agricultural development, especially in California. Early South Asian immigrants formed their own communities and created unique communities with other marginalized communities around them, such as Black, Mexican, and Puerto Rican communities. This lesson focuses on the experiences and impact of these early South Asian Americans.

2021 Social Science Standards Integrated with Ethnic Studies:
Civics and Government: 5.1, 5.4, 6.4
Economics: 4.4
Historical Knowledge: 5.22, 6.20, 6.21
Historical Thinking: 5.23, 5.24, 6.23, 6.24, 6.28
Social Science Analysis: 4.21, 4.24, 5.26, 5.27

Today many people assume that technological change is the major factor in historical change and that it tends to lead to historical progress. This class turns these assumptions into a question—what is the role of technology in history?—by focusing on four key historical transitions: the human revolution (the emergence of humans as a history-making species), the Neolithic Revolution (the emergence of agriculture-based civilizations); the great leap in productivity (also known as the industrial revolution), and the great acceleration that has come with the rise of human empire on the planet. These topics are studied through a mix of textbook reading (David Christian's "Maps of Time"), supplementary readings (ranging from Auel, "The Clan of the Cave Bear" to Hersey, "Hiroshima"), illustrated lectures, class discussions, guest lectures/discussions, short "problem paper" assignments, and a final project defined by the student.
Because MIT is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2011, this version of the class will also focus on connections between MIT as an institution and technology in the history of the last 150 years.

This video, from the US Department of Energy, shows the basics of how a PV panel converts light radiated from the sun into usable power, whether on the electric grid or off, and without emissions or the use of fossil fuels.

This activity is an investigation to determine the effect of soil type on plant growth. The students will develop an understanding of the plant as producer.

In this activity, students explore the basic living requirements of algae (phytoplankton)through hands-on experience and an interactive game. Students investigate what algal biofuels are, how they are made, where they can grow, and, most importantly, why this topic should be investigated. Algal biofuels are an emerging source of renewable energy.

Video introduces wind energy research at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and provides an overview of the NREL Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado.

This is a unit for K-2 students on fish habitats. The last day is a field trip to a local lake.

Students analyze data on temperature and precipitation collected from 26 different Long Term Ecological Research sites and compare them with annual net primary productivity. The students then form an ecological rule to explain their results.

This is a hands-on inquiry activity using zip-lock plastic bags that allows students to observe the process of fermentation and the challenge of producing ethanol from cellulosic sources. Students are asked to predict outcomes and check their observations with their predictions. Teachers can easily adapt to materials and specific classroom issues.

This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal and collective identities, social relations, and economic inequalities are formed and maintained via practices of food production, preparation, and consumption. Discussions are organized around critical discussion of what makes "good" food good (tasty, healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.), and draw on anthropological studies as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. A primary goal of the course is to provide students with conceptual tools to understand and evaluate food systems at local and global levels. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication is provided.

This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, illuminates how living on the coast affects individuals and communities, particularly humans' interrelationships with natural resources.