Five Environmental Education Resources
In honor of National Environmental Education Week (April 19 to April 23, 2023) we’re sharing some of our favorite environmental education resources in both English and Spanish.
Seas of Green - Designing a Plankton
In this lesson, students learn about plankton and then demonstrate their knowledge by examining a food web that relies on plankton and designing a plankton with structures to prevent it from sinking to stay in the sunlit prime-plankton habitat of the ocean surface.
Save Yourself - Sacrificial Anodes
Available in both English and Spanish, this lesson lets students investigate how rates of chemical reaction rates - galvanic corrosion - vary among different metal types with and without the addition of sacrificial metal. Students will learn how anodes protect E/V Nautilus and the ROVs Hercules and Argus from corrosion.
Another lesson available in both English and Spanish, this one introduces students to ecological relationships and organisms existing in one of the most extreme habitats on Earth: deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Using creature cards to construct a model food web with trophic levels, trophic positions, and ecological niches, students will determine the spatial distribution of organisms across a hydrothermal vent community based on provided evidence.
eDNA - There's Something in the Water
In this lesson, learners will learn about emerging technologies and extract eDNA from water samples containing “biodegradable glitter eDNA” using pipettes and filters. They will use QR code 'DNA barcodes' to identify the species represented by their samples and determine what ecosystem the water was collected from. Available in both English and Spanish.
Surviving & Thriving in Cold Water
In this lesson, using the 5E method (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate) students will research the various ways animals adapt to handle cold water temperatures in the deep sea and experiment with different strategies in a hands-on insulation lab!
