Students learn about the wonderful and fascinating country of China, and its environmental challenges that require engineering solutions, many in the form of increased energy efficiency, the incorporation of renewable energy, and new engineering developments for urban and rural areas. China is fast becoming an extremely influential factor in our world today, and will likely have a large role in shaping the decades ahead. China is the world's largest energy consumer and the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions, leading engineers and scientists to be concerned about the role these emissions play in rural and urban public and environmental health, as well as in global climate change. Through exploring some sources of air pollution, appropriate housing for different climate zones, and the types of renewable energy, the lessons and activities of this unit present ways that engineers are helping people in China, using an approach to cleaner, smarter, healthier and more-efficient ways of living that apply to people wherever they live.

Students are introduced to the fundamentals of environmental engineering as well as the global air, land and water quality concerns facing today's environmental engineers. After a lesson and activity to introduce environmental engineering, students learn more about water chemistry aspects of environmental engineering. Specifically, they focus on groundwater contamination and remediation, including sources of contamination, adverse health effects of contaminated drinking water, and current and new remediation techniques. Several lab activities provide hands-on experiences with topics relevant to environmental engineering concerns and technologies, including removal efficiencies of activated carbon in water filtration, measuring pH, chromatography as a physical separation method, density and miscibility.

Students develop critical thinking skills by interviewing a person who has perspective on environmental history. Students explore the concept of a timeline, including historical milestones, and develop a sense of the context of events.

In this activity, students create a "web" to identify and demonstrate the interactions among the living and non-living parts of an environment. This information allows students to better understand what an environment is and to also consider how engineers use teamwork to solve problems.

***LOGIN REQUIRED*** Environmental Technology is an emerging field that is science-based but also requires understandings of environmental policy, law regulations, hazardous materials management, and environmental management systems. In part of this course, students will investigate topics such as ecological concepts, environmental quality, natural resources, waste and hazardous materials, environmental laws and regulations, and environmental careers. Students will develop sampling, mapping, and data analysis techniques through hands-on laboratory activities and on-the-job training with local water, waste, air quality, and environmental agencies.In addition, this course is designed to look at the role that energy plays in our modern world. Based on physics students will design, build, test and rebuild alternative energy systems such as: windmills, solar panels, solar cars, solar hotwater systems, and hydro-electric systems. Students will explore the Physics of energy, learning to calculate the energy content and efficiency of a wide variety of structures and systems, such as buildings and alternative energy products, making them more efficient along the way. These units are hands-on; project based learning class with strong support coming from community resources, construction, laboratory experimentation and technology integration. Lessons will explore todayŐs dominant energy sources, supply lifetimes, alternative energy sources, environmental impacts, and the future of energy in our world. This course emphasizes historical and conceptual aspects in physics through the use of energy, and then reinforces these concepts with practical applications using basic high school mathematics.

In this adapted video segment, ZOOM guest Tommy takes us on a tour of the Florida Everglades. He describes what makes a wetland biome unique, including the soil, precipitation, and biodiversity.

In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, astronaut John Young experiences extreme temperatures on the Moon that are a result of the Moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.

In this video from Common Ground and Cleaner Water, Tribby Vice, a Kentucky farmer, talks about the changes he has made on his farm to protect the water quality of the stream running through his property and the watershed in which he lives.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists in western Greenland explain how a glacier there is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting.

Students conduct experiments to determine the flow rate of faucets by timing how long it takes to fill gallon jugs. They do this for three different faucet flow levels (quarter blast, half blast, full blast), averaging three trials for each level. They convert their results from gallons per second (gps) to cubic feet per second (cfs).

Finding common ground helps students make informed decisions to conserve temperate forests in the United States and central China, habitat of the endangered giant panda. Through classroom activities, on-line simulations, and field investigations students learn about the important role temperate forests play in local and global ecosystems. Action steps culminate in a Class Conservation Action Plan.
In the course of this curriculum students locate the biome in which they live, explore a local habitat, and conduct a biological inventory to assess habitat health and natural and human impacts to this habitat; explore the temperate forest biome through A Walk in the Forest, a virtual forest field study, and through hands-on field studies in a local forest or woodland; examine flora and fauna from the two most biodiverse temperate forest regions, central China and Appalachia, and monitor the impacts of habitat loss and degradation on forest organisms and biodiversity; design the optimal zoo habitat; put their knowledge into action by creating their own Class Conservation Action Plan, building on artifacts in their Habitat Journals and Action Plan Portfolios.

Discussing environmental issues can be a pivotal part of a student’s environmental education. Thinking about complex issues while engaging in respectful discussion is an opportunity for students to develop skills that are important throughout life. In this activity, students discuss the question, “Should humans stop wildfires?” At first, students typically respond, “Yes! Fires are bad!” In reality, fire management is a challenging environmental management problem, and the question has no simple answer. To make actual fire policy decisions you need a thorough analysis of the impacts of fires—which are not all bad!—on different ecosystems. You also need to think about the usefulness, cost, and effects of different management approaches and solutions.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists investigate how farming along the Mississippi River impacts floods and what can be done about it.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn about the unique environment of southern Florida's Everglades and gain insights into the interrelatedness of living things, nonliving things, and climate.

In the Flow Rate Experiment, students perform hands-on experiments with a common faucet, as well as work with the Engineering Our Water Living Lab to gain a better understanding of flow rate and how it pertains to engineering and applied science. Students calculate the flow rate of a faucet for three different levels (quarter blast, half blast, and full blast). Building on these calculations, students hypothesize about the flow rate in a nearby river, and then use the Engineering Our Water Living Lab to check their hypothesis. For this lesson to be effective, your students need to have a visual feel for the flow in a nearby river.

This is a forest measurements textbook written for field technicians. Silvicultural applications and illustrations are provided to demonstrate the relevance of the measurements. Special “technique tips” for each skill are intended to help increase data collection accuracy and confidence. These include how to avoid common pitfalls, effective short cuts and essentials for recording field data correctly. The emphasis is on elementary skills; it is not intended to be a timber cruising guide.

Students take part in a hypothetical scenario that challenges them to inform customers at a local restaurant of how their use and disposal of plastics relates/contributes to the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP). What students ultimately do is research information on the plastics pollution in the oceans and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to restaurant customers. This activity focuses on teaching students to conduct their own research on a science-technology related topic and present it in a compelling manner that includes citing source information without plagiarism. By doing this, students gain experience and skills with general online searching as well as word processing and written and visual communication.

Featuring images of glacier formations, this interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service explains what glaciers are, where they are found, how they form, and how they move.

This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE examines the greenhouse effect, its role in keeping Earth habitable, and the industrial changes that have led to an increase in the planet's average temperature.

In this video segment adapted from Spanner Films, visit the Alaska Native village of Shishmaref, and learn how an entire town may be forced to relocate because of warmer temperatures, melting sea ice, and coastal erosion.