Monday
May282012
FUN IN THE CLASSROOM
Monday, May 28, 2012 at 12:01AM(Got an educational resource you think we should include? Send your suggestion here)
/NEW/ Microwave News -- an authoritative newsletter on the health risk from radiation exposure caused by excessive exposure to cell phones and power lines
/NEW/ “What Every Kid Should Know about the Environment” -- an Earth Preservers TV educational series featuring important environmentalists and opinion makers from all walks of life.
/NEW/ “WHAT THE FRACK IS IN THAT WATER?” – For everyone concerned about fracking’s effects on drinking water, here is a very valuable research report from the highly respected journalism group ProPublica. The report lists all the chemicals publicly known to be in the fluids used to drill for natural gas in tight-rock formations, and tells you how dangerous each one is.
http://www.propublica.org/special/what-the-frack-is-in-that-water
/NEW/ ENDANGERED SPECIES INFO – Here’s a website that’ll help you find and/or research endangered animal species. Individual species are listed alphabetically by name. Learn which are the world’s most endangered mammals and much more.
http://www.animalinfo.org/
/NEW/ TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE
· * From the US Environmental Protection Agency, “A Student’s Guide to Global Climate Change” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/index.html
http://www.propublica.org/special/what-the-frack-is-in-that-water
/NEW/ ENDANGERED SPECIES INFO – Here’s a website that’ll help you find and/or research endangered animal species. Individual species are listed alphabetically by name. Learn which are the world’s most endangered mammals and much more.
http://www.animalinfo.org/
/NEW/ TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE
· * From the US Environmental Protection Agency, “A Student’s Guide to Global Climate Change” http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/index.html
* From the University of Chicago, “Open Climate 101,” a series of lectures that have been videotaped covering “Heat and Light,” “The Greenhouse Effect,” “Ice and Water Feedback,” and more. Start with this great explanatory article by the New York Times’ Andy Revkin: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/climate-101-online-and-free/
/NEW/ GREENANSWERS.COM – If you’ve got an environmental question – any question at all – this site should be able to give you an answer. Just type in your question and tey’ll email you an answer. http://greenanswers.com/
/NEW/ TED-Ed – From the “Ted Talk” folks on YouTube, a channel dedicated to “Awesome Nature.” Learn how “Life Begins in the Ocean,” “Evolution in a Big City,” and more.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD018AC9B25A23E16
/NEW/ AP Science Exam Review – Are you thinking about taking AP Environmental Science in high school? Get a feel for what the course includes in this multi-part video on YouTube, which is designed to help students review for the College Board AP Environmental Science Exam.
/NEW/ AP Science Exam Review – Are you thinking about taking AP Environmental Science in high school? Get a feel for what the course includes in this multi-part video on YouTube, which is designed to help students review for the College Board AP Environmental Science Exam.
A complete recycling curriculum guide from the Allied Waste unit of Republic Services intended especially for younger students. “Recycle Rosie” guides kids as they learn the 3 R’s – “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.” Download the Recycle Rosie Education Curriculum (pdf).
A guide to understanding tropical rainforests and the people, plants and animals that call rainforests home. From Mongabay.com, this tropical rainforest guide also helps kids like you understand why rainforests are important, why they are disappearing, and how they can be saved. http://kids.mongabay.com/
From the National Environmental Education Foundation, “Classroom Earth” is an online guide for teachers who want to include environmental learning in their daily teaching. There are news stories, a resource library, and “success stories” about how other teachers have put environmental education on the daily meu of learning. http://www.classroomearth.org/
“Collective Learning” is a “garden based” learning program for students from kindergarten through high school. The basic goal of the various age-appropriate programs is to teach by showing students how to design and grow organic gardens. http://www.collectiveroots.org/whats-growing/garden-based-learning
From the California-based nonprofit group Zilowatt, an interactive set of learning tools for teaching energy conservation to kids in all grades. Zilowatt provides numerous online resources including videos, downloadable posters and fact sheets. Zilowatt’s stated goal: to help teachers and staff “creatively engage students and maximize those ‘ah-ha’ moments.” http://www.zilowatt.org/
From the National Energy Education Development project (NEED), this is a complete resource and curriculum guide for teaching students of every age the fundamentals of energy. Both “green” energy and fossil fuels are included. Teachers can pick and choose the information they need to conduct classroom experiments that bring the subject of energy to life. http://www.need.org/needpdf/Catalog.pdf
The nonprofit group Facing the Future of Seattle, WA offers a number of free downloads for students of all ages emphasizing global sustainability, climate change and conservation. http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx
From Keep America Beautiful, the nonprofit education organization, this page of classroom activities includes games, a checklist of ideas for what kids can do to protect the environment, tips for preventing litter in your community, and more. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kids_zone
“Clean” energy is a multi-faceted topic, but this guide will simplify things and instantly increase students’ understanding. For older students, this guide from Kachan & Co., a cleantech analysis firm, breaks clean energy into eight basic areas: renewable energy; energy storage; energy efficiency; transportation; air & environment; clean industry; water, and agriculture. As valuable for an adult as it is for a kid.
http://www.kachan.com/cleantech-taxonomy-definition-defined
The goal of Ireland’s Green Schools program is to make every student a participant in the greening of his school through activities in and out of the classroom. A complete rundown of what the program entails can be found at: http://www.greenschoolsireland.org/Index.aspx?Site_ID=1&Item_ID=28
From the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, this website has oodles of free online materials that will help students, teachers, school administrators, and parents understand and teach the basics of sustainability and energy. There are games and downloadable fact sheets on a wealth of subjects including the carbon cycle, renewable forms of energy, energy efficiency and more. http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/
This You Tube video especially for teachers provides a list of resources for teaching “Green Energy” in the classroom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti3Mgv49dUA
From the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, everything you need to know about how to build a model solar car, plus dates and places where students can compete against other schools. http://www.nrel.gov/education/jss_hfc.html
Duke University in the US has put together a “Green Book” for incoming students that provides a great guide for how to live “sustainably” in any community. Food, recycling, transportation and more are all explained in ways students of every age can benefit.
http://sustainability.duke.edu/action/greenbook/index.html
A guide to understanding tropical rainforests and the people, plants and animals that call rainforests home. From Mongabay.com, this tropical rainforest guide also helps kids like you understand why rainforests are important, why they are disappearing, and how they can be saved. http://kids.mongabay.com/
From the National Environmental Education Foundation, “Classroom Earth” is an online guide for teachers who want to include environmental learning in their daily teaching. There are news stories, a resource library, and “success stories” about how other teachers have put environmental education on the daily meu of learning. http://www.classroomearth.org/
“Collective Learning” is a “garden based” learning program for students from kindergarten through high school. The basic goal of the various age-appropriate programs is to teach by showing students how to design and grow organic gardens. http://www.collectiveroots.org/whats-growing/garden-based-learning
From the California-based nonprofit group Zilowatt, an interactive set of learning tools for teaching energy conservation to kids in all grades. Zilowatt provides numerous online resources including videos, downloadable posters and fact sheets. Zilowatt’s stated goal: to help teachers and staff “creatively engage students and maximize those ‘ah-ha’ moments.” http://www.zilowatt.org/
From the National Energy Education Development project (NEED), this is a complete resource and curriculum guide for teaching students of every age the fundamentals of energy. Both “green” energy and fossil fuels are included. Teachers can pick and choose the information they need to conduct classroom experiments that bring the subject of energy to life. http://www.need.org/needpdf/Catalog.pdf
The nonprofit group Facing the Future of Seattle, WA offers a number of free downloads for students of all ages emphasizing global sustainability, climate change and conservation. http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx
From Keep America Beautiful, the nonprofit education organization, this page of classroom activities includes games, a checklist of ideas for what kids can do to protect the environment, tips for preventing litter in your community, and more. http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kids_zone
“Clean” energy is a multi-faceted topic, but this guide will simplify things and instantly increase students’ understanding. For older students, this guide from Kachan & Co., a cleantech analysis firm, breaks clean energy into eight basic areas: renewable energy; energy storage; energy efficiency; transportation; air & environment; clean industry; water, and agriculture. As valuable for an adult as it is for a kid.
http://www.kachan.com/cleantech-taxonomy-definition-defined
The goal of Ireland’s Green Schools program is to make every student a participant in the greening of his school through activities in and out of the classroom. A complete rundown of what the program entails can be found at: http://www.greenschoolsireland.org/Index.aspx?Site_ID=1&Item_ID=28
From the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, this website has oodles of free online materials that will help students, teachers, school administrators, and parents understand and teach the basics of sustainability and energy. There are games and downloadable fact sheets on a wealth of subjects including the carbon cycle, renewable forms of energy, energy efficiency and more. http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/
This You Tube video especially for teachers provides a list of resources for teaching “Green Energy” in the classroom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti3Mgv49dUA
From the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, everything you need to know about how to build a model solar car, plus dates and places where students can compete against other schools. http://www.nrel.gov/education/jss_hfc.html
Duke University in the US has put together a “Green Book” for incoming students that provides a great guide for how to live “sustainably” in any community. Food, recycling, transportation and more are all explained in ways students of every age can benefit.
http://sustainability.duke.edu/action/greenbook/index.html
Looking for a green job? The US state of Mississippi has a “green jobs” website that should be one of the first places you check out. The site is a great primer on how many different kinds of green jobs there are and what you need to get one. Specifically for work in Mississippi, this site is good background for finding a green job wherever you live.
http://greenjobs.mdes.ms.gov/
From Lake County, Illinois comes a free online library of 17 videos grouped into water, recycling, energy conservation and strategic planning. Each is suitable for showing in a classroom or public library.
http://www.lakecountyil.gov/ABOUTOURCOUNTY/SUSTAIN/Pages/VideoLibrary.aspx
Especially for teachers, California’s “Education and Environment Initiative” gives schools interested in teaching environmental literacy a complete curriculum, plus an opportunity to interact with other educators. You just have to enter your name and where you teach.
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/education/eei/Curriculum/Default.htm
From Great Britain’s National Energy Foundation comes a comprehensive list of links on renewable energy and climate change suitable for students of an age. Find the BBC’s “climate change game,” the Danish Energy Agency’s “renewable energy activities” (in English), and much, much more.
http://www.nef.org.uk/greenschool/energylinks.htm
Designed by an award-winning 2nd grade teacher in US state of Georgia, the “Worksheetless Classroom” provides lesson ideas and resources for improving student achievement while simultaneously reducing waste. http://teacher.worksheetless.com/index.html
The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative offers a slew of online resources to help teach general sustainability, energy, climate change, waste, water, biodiversity and more. http://www.environment.gov.au/education/aussi/educational-resources.html
From recycledevon.org in England comes a pair of short videos that make it easy to understand the process of aluminum and glass recycling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plp7HYXCpZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R8YObQbE88&feature=related&noredirect=1
Now that Maryland has become first US state to require high school graduates to be environmentally literate, here is the state’s proposed “environmental literacy curriculum”
The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative offers a slew of online resources to help teach general sustainability, energy, climate change, waste, water, biodiversity and more. http://www.environment.gov.au/education/aussi/educational-resources.html
From recycledevon.org in England comes a pair of short videos that make it easy to understand the process of aluminum and glass recycling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plp7HYXCpZA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R8YObQbE88&feature=related&noredirect=1
Now that Maryland has become first US state to require high school graduates to be environmentally literate, here is the state’s proposed “environmental literacy curriculum”
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/environment/tk/els
From Second Nature, a non-profit dedicated to sustainable building, comes a curriculum designed to teach sustainable building concepts to all students. http://www.campusgreenbuilder.org/CurriculumChapters
From Second Nature, a non-profit dedicated to sustainable building, comes a curriculum designed to teach sustainable building concepts to all students. http://www.campusgreenbuilder.org/CurriculumChapters
