|
High School Lesson Plans
| |||
| Projects (Group or Individual) | |||
| Sustainable Village | Desert Landscaping | Urban Planning | Park Management Project |
| Journals | |||
| "A Sand County Almanac" Journal |  |
|
|
| Classroom Activities | |||
| Arctic Wilderness Preserve Senate Debate | Biome Biodiversity Game | Desert Food Web Game | Arctic Food Web Game |
| Guided Research Sheets | |||
| Biodiversity at the Wash | Biological Soil Crusts | Environmental Ethics (web link) | |
| Lesson Plan Web Links | |||
| Compost! | Wildlife | Humans and the Environment | Human Population and the World |
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Overview: Students will assess the environmental conditions of a remote Village. The students are Environmental Planners and have a budget of 1.0 Units to plan a long-term sustainable future for this village; They must make changes to the village and educate the villagers of their decisions (by writing a paper and creating a new map of the village).
Objective(s):For students to gain an understanding of cause and effect interactions between humans and the environment. (To understand how humans can affect the environment and how those effects, in turn, can affect human’s available resources needed for survival). To understand that human health is directly related to the environment. To gain knowledge of the importance of biodiversity in the agricultural industry and introduce organic farming principles. To apply mathematical concepts to real life scenarios (percentages, decimals, fractions) for managing a budget. To use critical thinking skills to analyze the Village's needs and find a solution that will support long-term sustainability.
There is also a map and a blank map that you will need to give to each student or group (you may print them back to back on one page for quick reference) . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview: Students will become Landscape Architects as they create plans for converting high-water-use grass lawns to water efficient desert landscaping. Students will draw their landscape designs on a large posterboard and include a colored key. Several yards are provided (yard 1 and yard 2) or students may draw their own yard designs (to scale). Students must research desert-adapted and/or native plants to add in their designs. A plant covergae worksheet will help students keep track of their plants and coverage values. The client's yard will need to have half of the area of the converted grass lawn covered by plants. Estimates for desert-adapted plants can be found in a link to the Southern Nevada Water Authority under Teacher Tools. For a more challenging project, students can use ALL native plants in their design! Coverage values are provided in a seperate link below Teacher Tools. Students will conclude the project by calculating how much water they saved their client by converting their yard from grass lawn to desertxeriscape. Design examples from the Southern Nevada Water Authority can be found under Helpful Guides for Students.
Objective(s): To become familiar with Mojave Desert native vegetation and desert-adapted vegetation in the desert biome. To indtroduce the concept of water conservation principles and Landscape design. To apply mathematical concepts (percentages, multiplication, division, unit conversions, and area of geometric shapes).
Student Instruction Sheet & Plant Coverage Values Worksheet
Plant Coverage Values for Desert-Adapted Plants
Plant Coverage Values for Native Mojave Desert Plants
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview: Students break into small groups. Each team is responsible for coming up with a plan for re-designing the downtown of Summerville. Special interest groups, such as the teacher's union, businesses, and the local police department all have different needs they want the urban planning teams to address. These groups, along with several other state, county and local groups will vote on which team's final plan will get the city's bid. Students have a restrictive budget and must balance the needs between different interests and decide which changes should be made.
Objective(s):
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview: Students are hired as ecologists/botanists by a Desert Tortoise protection group in Las Vegas, NV. Several Desert Tortoises have been removed from an area where homes will be built. The ecologists must use the scientific method to evaluate a protected parcel of land for possible habitat for the tortoises. Websites are provided for research on the desert tortoise. Students must use critical thinking skills to evaluate whether the habitat has plants and water sources appropriate for the desert tortoise.
Objective(s): To introduce students to the scientific method, learn about the local desert biome and associated flora and fauna, to introduce students to different professions in the science field, to apply critical thinking and decision-making skills.
Desert Tortoise Info Print-out
Helpful Guides for Students
Desert USA Tortoise (Website) . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview: *Note this lesson plan was designed for Junior and Senior Honors or AP courses only. Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation from round River" is needed for this lesson plan. The Journal corresponds
to the reading of A Sand County Almanac. This 3 week lesson plan provides a reading schedule and corresponding assignments for students along
with instructions for individual journal entries. Each student will need their own journal. On the Friday of each week students
will embark on an outdoor trek to discover the natural world. English and science courses may even be combined for
this activity. Cards are provided with journal entry topics. Teachers will give each student ther own card and allow
them to explore the outdoors, whether in a soccer field, an empty desert lot, or a nature preserve or park!
Students will write about their topic while outdoors. Small group discussions provide for students to discuss each other's topics or if the same, compare and contrast ideas.
Objective(s): Analyze and decipher complex analogies and metaphors. Introduction to ecology and environmental studies.
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview:Students will break into a Television crew, two special interest groups, the senate body and a science team. The two interest groups and the science team will create statements on the perspectives of two differnt bills, one which will protect the Arctic Wildlife Preserve and one which will allow mineral and resouece extraction (to help with an energy crisis). One quarter of the senators will be for protecting the Wildlife Preserve, another quarter will be for extraction in the PReserve and the other half will make decisions on their own based on scientist and interest group presentations. Each senator will prepare a two minute speech on their stance for the bills. Student senators will vote on the bills.
Objective(s): To apply conepts learned in U.S. Government courses, to allow students to participate in a mock political process to better understand political debates in general and the possibility of media coverage influences, and to understand the role of science in political debates as non-opinional, factual information.
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Overview: Students read an article by the USGS Canyonlands Research Station (Moab, UT) to learn about biological soil crusts' basic structure and formation, living composition, ecological functions, and disturbance responses. After reading through the article students can follow the guided research sheet, which asks questions about the materials presented and asks students to use their knowledge to come up with solutions to environmental problems. The reading is provided as a PDF document and could also be read online.
Objective(s): To introduce students to living soil crusts, to introduce micro-biology and to understand microorganisms' influences on larger ecosystem components, to utilize problem-solving skills.
Guided Reasearch Sheet Coming Soon!
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Sustainable Village Project
(Group or Individual Projects)
Subjects: Biology / Science / Ecology, Environmental Management and Planning, Applied Mathematics, Critical Thinking SkillsTeacher Tools
Desert Landscaping and Water Conservation
(Individual or Group Project)
Subjects: Biology, Botany / Horticulture, Landscape Architecture, Applied Mathematics, Environmental PlanningTeacher Tools
Urban Planning Project
(Class Project and Small Groups)
Subjects: Sociology, Environmental Health, Architecture, Math (decimals, fractions, budget management), U.S. Government Teacher Tools
Scientific Method: Desert Tortoise Project
(Individual and/or Small Groups)
Subjects: Environmental Science, Biology, Ecology, BotanyTeacher Tools
Desert Tortoise Council (Website)
Fish & Wildlife Tortoise (Website)
BLM Tortoise (Website)
"A Sand County Almanac" Journal
(Individual Project with Group Discussion)
Subjects: Environmental Studies / Ecology, English / Language ArtsTeacher Tools
Arctic Wilderness Preserve Senate Debate
(Class Project and Small Groups)
Subjects: U.S. Government, Film, Journalism and Media Studies, Sociology, Social Studies, Environmental Science/BiologyTeacher Tools
Biological Soil Crusts
(Individual)
Subjects: Biology, Ecology, Environmental Science, Teacher Tools
.
.
.
.
.
Overview: Students are hired as restoration practitioners to oversee a site at the Las Vegas Wash. Students review aerial site drawings and create a graph showing the changes in plant communities over 50 years. Students discuss their predictions for the site in the future if it is left alone (no human intervention).
Objective(s): For students to use statistical analysis to evaluate environmental changes, to use models to predict future trends.
Student Instruction Sheet and Aerial Site Drawings
Helpful Guides for Students . . . .
. . . . . .
Biodiversity at the Las Vegas Wash
(Individual Activity)
Subjects: Biology, Environmental Studies, Ecology, Math (graphing)Teacher Tools
