By Gregory Paul Pavlik and Loren Hansen
Introduction
This curriculum approach was developed in a effort to help students become aware of the many issues involved in environmental change. Our approach will be driven by research conducted by social studies students in grades 9 - 12. Their research will focus on the history of climate changes and effect that the climate changes had on the social, political, economic systems as well as any cultural impact of the people in the affected region.Science students in grades 7, 8, and 10 will use the research ideas generated by the social studies students and study the science concepts that were involved. For example: If a social studies student was researching the drought in the U. S. during the 1930’s, then the science students may study normal parameters of the weather for the United States. Students might use average annual precipitation, temperature, and wind pattern data to compare the 1930’s with a decade that had “normal” weather. At the same time science students would be learning the component parts that play a role in environmental change.
Our approach to promote awareness of environmental change includes secondary students using the knowledge gained, through their research and experimentation, to develop small lessons that can be used in the primary grades 3 - 6. These lessons would follow the science and social studies curriculum objectives for those particular grades. These lessons would be developed under teacher supervision and with the intent that the students would help in the elementary classroom when the primary teacher used it.
This program will involve approximately 220 students in grades 3 - 12 at Osmond Community Schools.
Educational Process and Timeline
Phase 1:At the beginning of the academic year both science and social studies students will be given an overview and the expectations of the project. In their classes, students will be introduced to the idea of climate, climate change, and global environmental change. Students will be given out of class assignments to gather evidence that either supports or dismisses the concept of global climate change. Teachers will provide news articles that will facilitate class discussion and help point the students in the right direction for their quest for information. (A variation of this method would be to plan a media center day with students) The main objective of this introduction method is to help students be able to discuss a topic, support their stance on the issue with more than “I think” arguments, and at the same time be exposed to various forms of information that they have not been exposed to before.
Since this is a “support” approach, it is driven by the materials already found as part of the curriculum in social studies and science programs. Topics usually studied in the early part of the academic year will dove-tail nicely. Some examples are as follows
- World History: Early Civilizations & Movements of Peoples
- American Government: Historical Development of Government
- Geography: Map making and reading & Earth History
- Biology, Life, Environmental, & Earth Science: Scientific Method , Weather, & Earth History
Phase 2:
We feel the next step in the process should be a student research into the “factors” that could cause Global Environmental Change and the effect that these “factors” have had throughout history. Many of these “factors” could be purely scientific in nature. For example:
- Drought
- Volcanic eruption
- Prairie Fires caused by lightning
- Plate tectonics
- Ozone level reduction due to increase amounts of CFC’s released
- Greenhouse gas levels increase as a result of pollution and fossil fuel combustion
This part of the project would follow Phase 1 and be completed by the end of the 1st quarter.
Phase 3:
At this point the social studies and science students will follow two different agenda’s
Social Studies:
From the social studies research into the historical influence the “factors” of environmental change had, students will select a research topic and write a formal report on it. Some of the research topics may include variation upon the following themes.
- The population trends of the world
- The impact on population during drought and famine when compared to “normal” years
- Growth / Preparation / Preservation / Storage of food in different regions of the world
- A comparison of political styles and climate types
- A comparison of cultural lifestyles and climate types
- An economic comparison of countries that share a similar latitude
- Farming trends
- Economic geography / crop yields
- Historical comparison of cities or regions that share similar geography or climate
- Topic must be approved with instructor prior to start of research
- Double spaced
- Typed using word processor
- Literature Cited
Science Students:
Phase 3 of the project for the science students will center on activity preparation to be used in the primary school. Groups of students will be given Science Link topics and Social Studies Link topics for grades 2 through 6. The second quarter project for these students will be to prepare demonstrations and experiments that use the principles involved in environmental change. These students will work with the primary teachers to make sure that the prepared curriculum matches the students ability and knowledge level.
It should also be noted that the science teacher will be involved in the process. There is plenty of material that could be adapted and I do not want my students to think that all activities must be an original, why re-invent the wheel! The proposed agenda that we will follow next year is only a guide. Some of the projects were adapted from the Global Environmental Change workshop materials. Please note the Literature Cited section at end of this paper.
Second Grade:
Science Link: Demonstrate Evaporation (Walpole, 1988)Third Grade:
Demonstrate Condensations using both ice & steam (Walpole, 1988)Social Studies Link: Develop a web that uses an occupational (parents) link to the environment
Science Link: Model the Greenhouse Effect (NESEN, 1998)Fourth Grade:
Model effect of plants and animals (Data collection)
Model the melting of the ice caps : Ice in water vs. ice on
continent; which would cause the level of water to rise more?Social Studies Link: High school students will develop a graphing assignment to compare and contrast temperature and precipitation. Students will use CLIMPROB to collect data of assignment
Science Link: Evaporation:Fifth Grade:
Students will make there own refrigerator (Walpole, 1988)
This will be a data collection activitySocial Studies Link: Dehydration project: Students will select a fruit to dehydrate and research the area in the world that it comes from and the impact it has on the region or country
Science Link: Students will build and observe an “Ecocolumn” (Ingram, 1993) In this activity students will discuss and design variables to be usedSixth Grade:
in their “Ecocolumn”.Social Studies Link: Crop Location vs. climate : a global look
Role Play: “Early potential for Colonization” This Role play will be developed and written by the 11th grade American History students.
Science Link: Research topic: Does extinction happen gradually or quick?These projects will be due 1 week before the end of the 2nd quarter. The final week students will demonstrate their projects and conduct them in class. These will be critiqued by the students and teacher and revisions made prior to there use in the primary grades.
-Present day amphibian populations
-Dinosaurs
-Dodo Bird (parallel extinction)
-Passenger Pigeon (Human factor)Social Studies Link: Impact of severe weather on local population and economy
-Hurricanes
-Typhoons
-Tornadoes
Phase 4: FINAL EVALUATION
During the third quarter students will be given an opportunity to summarize all of the information they have researched and learned during a
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AWARENESS SYMPOSIUM
This one day event would be a day for students to present there papers and discuss topics that are relevant in the area of global environmental change. This could also be a day to bring in speakers of interest that could bring their knowledge to share with our students.
Literature Cited
Walpole, Brenda., 1988. 175 Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze yourFriends. Random House., New York, New York. p.12-14.
Ingram, Mrill., 1993. Bottle Biology. Kendall/Hunt Publishing., Dubuque, IA.
p. 75-80.
Nebraska Earth Science Education Network., 1998. Global Environmental Change
Workshop Resource Binder. NESEN., Conservation & Survey
Division - University of Nebraska-Lincoln.