Education Links
Features a collection of top rated Environmental Lesson Plan sites.

Photovoltaic Cells  

This lesson aims to test and calculate the effectiveness of a solar panel.
http://www.nasaexplores.com/show_912_teacher_st.php?id=030109140735

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Plants and Air Purity  

In this lesson, students work in groups to conduct an experiment that will help them understand that green plants produce gases that improve air quality.
http://www.nasaexplores.com/show_912_teacher_st.php?id=030109134409

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Radio Expeditions: Yellowstone Fires in the Classroom  

These classroom ideas from National Geographic are designed to help educators teach about the Yellowstone fires as explored in National Public Radio's Radio Expeditions. Teachers are encouraged to use National Geographic's Radio Expeditions online feature in their classrooms.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/radiox/yellowstone/yellow_classroom.html

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Relocating A Lighthouse  

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a major tourist attraction on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore which is subject to severe oceanfront erosion. Protection methods, including renourishment, groins, and sandbags, have not had much of a lasting impact. Erosion continues to threaten the lighthouse structure. Today, the ocean is about 120 feet from the base of the lighthouse. The United States government has funded an initiative to relocate the lighthouse 2900 feet away from its current position. In this exploration, students investigate the issues concerning the relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. As students engage in exploration, they identify the social, political, and scientific issues with which different stakeholders
http://www.ncsu.edu/sciencejunction/terminal/lessons/coast/chl/index.html

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Standards of Living: Comparing Different Countries  

In this lesson, students will become familiar with various demographic and economic measures that can be used to describe a standard of living. They will access the Internet to find current data for these measures and will devise a ranking system to compare various countries.
http://perth.uwlax.edu/faculty/skala/Standards-of-Living.htm

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Stormwater Collection and Treatment Design Challenge: Student Guide  

Recent developments in stormwater retention and treatment programs have produced new ideas for enhancing the performance of water treatment plants. As old drainage systems are updated, new methods are adapted or modified based on how the technology removes pollutants, the type of pollutants removed, and system maintenance needs. In the scenario described below, you --the problem solver--will need to respond to one specific design problem.
http://ei.cornell.edu/watersheds/challenges/WT%20StuGuide%20entire%20400.pdf

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Talking Trash  

This lesson helps students define "marine debris" and to learn the types and amounts of marine debris found each year in national beach cleanups in the United States.
http://www.marine.usf.edu/beachbuddies/lesson1.htm

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Teacher's Guide for "Offshore Windfarms in the United States?"  

While offshore wind farms have already been operating in Europe for some time, the first offshore wind farms are just now being proposed for development in the United States. Despite the many ideal characteristics of wind power, other aspects of wind power can create environmental and community concerns. Should the United States develop offshore wind farms as part of the national energy policy? You are a member of an independent team researching wind power as a renewable energy source that will help meet the United States' energy needs and reduce global warming. Your team will examine the potential as well as the concerns for developing offshore wind farms in the United States.
http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/polson/webquest/webquest_guide.htm

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The Power of Fire  

The focus is on environment and society, including how forces of nature can be destructive, but can be planned for. In this Xpeditions Activity, students are challenged to become a hazard mapper and create their own maps. They are offered a chance to assess what they did by comparing their maps with those used by others. It is a map intensive site with many links to sites that feature plate tectonics, flood plains, the Ring of Fire, forest fires, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/15/powerfire.html

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The Shell Island Dilemma  

The Shell Island Resort is in danger of being destroyed by a migrating inlet. Mason's Inlet is moving south rapidly. The Shell Island Resort is currently situated in an Inlet Hazard Zone and is in dire straits. In this inquiry simulation, your objective is to investigate the issues concerning the fate of the Shell Island Resort and then debate the future of this and other oceanfront structures threatened by coastal erosion. As you engage in your investigation, identify the social, political, and scientific issues with which different stakeholders must deal. You will place yourself into the role of one of the stakeholders
http://www.ncsu.edu/sciencejunction/terminal/lessons/coast/shell/index.html

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This Land is Our Land (Grades 9-12)  

Students research and map federal land holdings and explore the benefits of having land held in trust by the federal government. Students will also discuss acceptable uses for public land.
http://www.agclassroom.org/teacher/pdf/land.pdf

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Trash goes to school: A Computer Model For A Recycling Center  

A computer can save a business time and money. Students will develop a working model computer program of a recycling center which can be used to make decisions about a school recycling
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoestoSchool/AComputer.html

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Trash goes to school: De"compost"ition  

Decomposition of organics. Help your students develop an understanding of the decomposition process and the parameters which influence the rate at which it occurs.
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoestoSchool/Decompost.html

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Trash goes to school: Landfill Leachate  

All landfills produce some leachate. Whether the leachate contaminates groundwater depends on how the landfill is built, as well as on characteristics of the site. Have your students become aware that everything we do on and to the surface of the earth affects our water.
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoestoSchool/Landfill.html

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Trash goes to school: Sewage Treatment Tour  

How do we clean up our wastewater? Understand how your wastewater is treated and make a connection between what is put down the drain and where it goes.
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoestoSchool/Sewage.html

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Trash goes to school: Testing Leachate  

This lesson plan teaches about how landfills, compost piles, and any other concentration of waste that produces leachate. Students will learn what leachate is, where it comes from, and what its properties are.
http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/TrashGoestoSchool/Testing.html

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Trash Traits  

In this lesson, students will learn about certain characteristics of marine debris and how these characteristics affect where marine debris is found in the environment.
http://www.marine.usf.edu/beachbuddies/lesson2.htm

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Traveling Dust  

This Science Update demonstrates how events that happen in one part of the world can have an impact on other parts of the world. It also shows that microbes, like many other things in nature, do not pay attention to national boundaries. Finally, this Science Update provides a good example of how the environment can affect human health.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=79

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Volcano World: Eruption Simulation  

Volcano World: Eruption Simulation. In a series of small-group and whole-class discussions, individual research and reciprocal teaching exercises, students learn about six major components of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, and their effects on landscape and lifeforms. They then assume roles and plan for a dramatic simulation of the event, finally enacting it as an aid to visualization, thorough understanding, and retention of learning.
http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/msh/llc/hr/hrl/es.html

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Water Everywhere: Is There Enough to Drink?  

In these lessons, students will examine water supply issues stemming from population growth and land use. Activities include histograms, smart water usage campaigns, and research into hydrogeology.
http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/lessons/kassaslessons.pdf

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Weather and Agriculture  

Students will research, discuss, and write reports on the relationship between climate and agriculture. They will pretend that they've just purchased farms in specific parts of the United States and will investigate that region's weather and climate in order to maximize the chances that their farms will succeed.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/08/g912/globalclimate.html

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