Environment
Environment
AC Southeast: Heating the Earth, A Guide to Global Warming - Alliance for Climate Education's mission is to educate young people on the science of climate change and empower them to take action. ACE has lesson plans available free for teachers that target eight different Colorado Science Standards from the CDE for grades 9-12.
"A Way Forward: Confronting Climate Change" United Nations Film - Explore the global impact of climate change and its devastating effects-and learn what scientists suggest in response-in this short documentary film from National Geographic and the UN Foundation.
BEETLES: Infusing outdoor science programs with research-based approaches and tools to improve science teaching and learning - Our professional learning resources are designed for program leaders to use with field instructors. They provide experiences and rationale about outdoor science instruction designed to inspire instructors to improve their teaching. Our student activities inspire students' wonder and curiosity about the natural world, support their innate tendencies for exploration, and guide them to make explanations based on evidence. All BEETLES resources embody our four research-based design principles.
Biological Sciences Curriculum Study: BSCS is a curriculum study. Our vision is grounded in research about what makes a difference in education and in particular what helps define what a "high-quality" science education could and should be. As a curriculum study, we define and determine our work by considering a philosophical perspective as well as what research says about learning, teaching, and the role of curriculum.
The Choices Program: Climate Change and Questions of Justice: This activity is a simulation in which students take on the roles of participants in a UN conference on climate change and deliberate three distinct options for international climate change policy. By exploring three clearly defined alternatives, students gain a deeper understanding of the values underlying specific policy recommendations and the trade-offs that accompany them, ultimately articulating their own views on the future of climate change policy.
Climate Central is an independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the American public. Climate Central surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings. Our scientists publish and our journalists report on climate science, energy, sea level rise, wildfires, drought, and related topics. Climate Central is not an advocacy organization. We do not lobby, and we do not support any specific legislation, policy or bill Climate Central's mission is to communicate the science and effects of climate change to the public and decision-makers.
Climate and Energy Awareness Network - The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Portal was launched in 2010 as a National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Pathways project. It is led by the science education expertise of TERC, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. As of 2012, CLEAN has been syndicated to NOAA's climate.gov portal. CLEAN's primary effort is to steward the collection of climate and energy science educational resources and to support a community of professionals committed to improving climate and energy literacy.
Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science, U.S. Global Change Research Program - The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) was established by Presidential Initiative in 1989 and mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act (GCRA) of 1990 to develop and coordinate "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change."
Climate Status Investigations, The Keystone Center - Founded in 1976 by Robert W. Craig, Keystone Science School has taught scientific principles and leadership skills to young people, teachers, and community members through engaging hands-on field experiences. As formerly part of The Keystone Center, KSS was founded on the belief that leaders should approach decision-making with a healthy respect for scientific inquiry, collaboration, and civic engagement. We know that today's youth are our future leaders - the ones who will develop policies and make decisions that impact our world. With that in mind, we've created interactive science education programs that help students become familiar with scientific and critical thinking skills and encourage them to be engaged citizens.
Climate Voices, Science Speakers Network brings scientists and their fellow citizens together in discussions of climate science and local impacts of climate change. The purpose of the network is to share scientists' expertise and engage citizens in meaningful, ongoing dialogue about climate change effects on local communities, regions, and the country.
The Colorado Birding Trail Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast Trail Guides are available at many locations in Colorado, including all birding trail sites with a visitor center, as well as Colorado Welcome Centers, Colorado State Parks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Offices, USFS and BLM offices and National Park sites. It may also be available at local Chamber of Commerce facilities, local businesses, like Wild Bird Centers, and some museums. Across the state, you can pick a copy at all of the Colorado Welcome Centers, Audubon Colorado, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and other selected locations.
Colorado National Monument, Field Trips and Curriculum Materials - Amazing canyons, incredible desert life, and more await you and your students in this unique outdoor classroom. Study geology, ecology or cultural history on a ranger-guided field trip in the Monument or explore our curriculum materials to use in the field or in your classroom.
Conserving Biodiversity in the Denver Metro Area: A Standards-Based Method for Introducing Biodiversity Concepts into Geography and Science Courses in Grades 6-12
Our team has been hard at work redesigning the Earth Day Network website. This revamp and update provides a much better user experience for all of our EDN supporters worldwide. Not only will this benefit the existing EDN community, but our new website will allow more people to get involved in both local and global environmental campaigns. Our cutting edge web design makes navigation more easy and convenient. Here are some features you won't want to miss.
The Earth Science Literacy Initiative (ESLI), funded by the National Science Foundation, has gathered and codified the underlying understandings of Earth sciences into a succinct document that will have broad-reaching applications in both public and private arenas. It establishes the "Big Ideas" and supporting concepts that all Americans should know about Earth sciences. The resulting Earth Science Literacy framework will also become part of the foundation, along with similar documents from the Oceans, Atmospheres and Climate communities, of a larger geoscience Earth Systems Literacy effort.
Extreme Ice Survey - Department of Geography, University of Oregon - In 2005, internationally acclaimed nature photojournalist James Balog traveled to Iceland to photograph glaciers for The New Yorker. This led to a 2006 National Geographic assignment to document changing glaciers in various parts of the world. In the course of shooting that story (which became the June 2007 cover story, "The Big Thaw"), Balog, who in addition to being a photographer is a mountaineer with a graduate degree in geomorphology, recognized that extraordinary amounts of ice were vanishing with shocking speed. Features that took centuries to develop were being destroyed in just a few years or even just a few weeks. These changes are the most visually dramatic and immediate manifestations of climate change on our planet today.
Global Climate Animations - The animations on this page show the climatology of the seasonal cycle for selected climate variables for the time period 1959-1997. The individual frames in each animation show the map pattern of the long-term average of a particular monthly climate variable. When these frames are displayed in a loop, they reveal the temporal and spatial variations in that variable over the seasonal cycle. The animations are used as teaching tools in climatology and global environmental change courses to visualize the seasonal variations of, and interactions among a set of climate variables that describe the surface water and energy balances, temperature, and atmospheric circulation.
Global Warming: Early Warning Signs, Union of Concerned Scientists - Explore the signs of global warming on this map or Google Earth. The evidence of climate change includes heat waves, sea-level rise, flooding, melting glaciers, earlier spring arrival, coral reef bleaching, and the spread of disease. The greatest concentration of global warming indicators on the map is in North America and Europe because that is where most scientific investigation has been done to date. As scientists focus increasingly on fingerprints of global warming in other regions-from Russia to Antarctica and Oceania to South America-the evidence they find will be added to the map. Scientists project that unless emissions of heat-trapping gases are brought under control, the impacts of climate change are likely to increase.
Global Warming Effects Map, National Geographic Society - This webpage takes a deeper look at the effects of climate change from topics covering energy, carbon, melting ice, and more.
Green Blog, The New York Times - This blog features the environment and how political, cultural, and behavioral changes can be made to preserve it.
Green Guide - The Green Guide and www.thegreenguide.com are published by The Green Guide Institute (TGGI), an independent information and online store for consumers. Dubbed the "green living source for today's conscious consumer", The Green Guide is an invaluable resource for men and women, from young adults to grandparents, striving for a healthy and "greener" lifestyle.
Green Teacher: Education for Planet Earth (magazine) - We are a non-profit organization dedicated to helping educators, both inside and outside of schools, promote environmental awareness among young people aged 6-19. Our quarterly Green Teacher magazine offers perspectives on the role of education in creating a sustainable future, practical articles and ready to use activities for various age levels, and reviews of dozens of new educational resources. Subscribe to Green Teacher today.
Healthy Neighborhoods / Healthy Kids Journey North, A Global Study of Wildlife Migration and Seasonal Change, Annenberg Media - The Healthy Neighborhoods/ Healthy Kids (HN/HK) Project is a service-learning/civic engagement and project-based learning framework for students designed by Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Schools Project in collaboration with Smart Growth Vermont. Healthy Neighborhoods/Healthy Kids (HN/HK) endeavors to engage students in meaningful exploration of their community, and to provide teachers, students, and communities with opportunities for student-led community change. By providing structure and support for work deeply rooted in both student interest and community need, HN/HK is a vital example of Education for Sustainability, Place-Based Education, and Service-Learning, as well as a tool for developing students' literacy, analytical, and communication skills in a relevant way.
Journey North - A Global Study of Wildlife Migration and Seasonal Change, Annenberg Media - Seasonal change is all around us. We see it in the length of a day, in the appearance of a flower, in the flight of a butterfly. Journey North engages students and citizen scientists around the globe in tracking wildlife migration and seasonal change. Participants share field observations across the northern hemisphere, exploring the interrelated aspects of seasonal change.
Learn More About Climate: Climate Change and Colorado's Future, University of Colorado at Boulder - LMAC translates climate change information into resources and tools for teachers, policy makers, and citizens. Watch videos, schedule a guest speaker, find standards-based lessons and interactive resources - all designed to increase your knowledge and understanding about this critical issue.
Learning about Soils, Biomes, and Climate - In the activities on this webpage you will use web resources and internet-based GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to explore biomes and their relation to climate, soil fertility, and specific soil types.
MAPPING THE IMPACTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE: STORIES OF OUR CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AS TOLD BY U.S. CITIZENS
Citizens-farmers, business owners, fishermen, workers, teachers and scientists-agree: our planet is changing. From droughts in California to mudslides in Texas, oil spills in Louisiana to earthquakes in Oklahoma, it is clear that human activities threaten the natural life-support systems that we all depend on in our daily lives. The environment-the foundation for our health, economic prosperity, and social well-being-is in danger. Welcome to the age of global change.
Mapping the Stories of U.S. Global Change: the 5 Key Problems - Use this tab to explore 500+ stories documenting the realities of climate disruption in the US and in your community. Click on a point to reveal a news story, featured against the backdrop of predicted precipitation change by 2050.
MetEd: Teaching and Training Resources for the Geoscience Community - (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) - MetEd is a free collection of hundreds of training resources intended for the geoscience community. Whether you're an experienced meteorologist honing existing skills or a student looking for new geoscience topics of interest, we have something for you.
Met Office - United Kingdom's National Weather Service - This blog cite features posts regarding the United Kingdom weather and climate. The Met Office provides a wide range of forecasts and warnings to help you make informed decisions about your day to day activities.
My Community Our Earth (MyCOE) Project Activity Guides - The My Community, Our Earth: Global Connections and Exchange Program (MyCOE GCE) connects high school students in the U.S. with their peers abroad through virtual online meetings. These meetings are arranged through online video conferences, online phone calls and chat rooms. The purpose of these meetings is to stimulate thinking and collaboration between high school students across international borders around sustainable development themes such as climate change, green economy, food security and hazards and vulnerability, while enriching cultural literacy. We are looking for U.S. high school teachers who would like to participate with us.
National Academies: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change - The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are the nation's pre-eminent source of high-quality, objective advice on science, engineering, and health matters. The operating arm of the Academies performs its studies and workshops through six major divisions; Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Earth and Life Studies, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Policy and Global Affairs, the Institute of Medicine, and the Transportation Research Board.
National Earth Teachers Science Association - Windows to the Universe New Scientist - Environment - The National Earth Science Teachers Association and Windows to the Universe are working together with NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation to explore the impact that climate change is having on our planet. The resources below provide links to videos developed by NBC Learn on twelve key indicators of climate change, as well as lesson plans for teachers to use to explore the science behind these indicators with their students at the secondary level.
NBC Learn: Changing Planet; NBC Learn, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, explores the impact that climate change is having on our planet. For related lesson plans, check the back of each Cue Card, or visit th Windows to the Universe project team at the National Earth Science Teachers Association.
Chasteen Educational Consulting - I'm a PhD physicist and science educator, providing consulting services to support college and high-school educational reform. I specialize in communicating research-based instructional practices to teachers. I also work with academics to envision and carry out effective educational programs based on research on how people learn. Find out more about my experience on my resume page, or scroll down for my recent clients. Need someone to help with a project? Drop me a line. I love work.
Solar System - NASA - The Year of the Solar System (YSS) offers ways for you to get involved with NASA's amazing science discoveries! As NASA spacecraft head to and arrive at key locations, YSS and the continuing salute to the 50 year history of solar system exploration provide an integrated picture of our new understanding of the solar system to educators and the general public! YSS combines the amazing discoveries of past NASA planetary missions with the most recent findings of the ongoing missions, and connects them to the related planetary science topics! On the YSS website find valuable hands-on science activities, resources and educational materials to engage students, families and the general public in planetary science topics and their related mission discoveries. This journey of discovery continues with the anniversary of 50 years of NASA Solar System exploration!
Tread Lightly, Climate Education Program - Tread Lightly is a free climate change education and engagement program offered by TakingITGlobal (TIG), with the generous support of the Staples Foundation. Tread Lightly features innovative online educational tools and resources designed to empower youth to reduce their ecological footprints and take action on climate change.
American Geosciences Institute - The American Geosciences Institute, in response to the increase of Spanish speaking students, now has some free resources in Spanish listed on their website that may be helpful to some of your students and teachers. Please feel free to share this email with other educators. Materials may be ordered in large quantities for workshops and conferences!
- Why Earth Science?
- View Why Earth Science?
- TeacherTube
- Download the booklet at these links in English and in Spanish
- Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy EducationSchlumberger Excellence in Education Development (SEED)Schlumberger Excellence in Education Development (SEED)
Facing the Future - Facing the Future is an international leader whose mission is to create tools for educators that equip and motivate students to develop critical thinking skills, build global awareness, and engage in positive solutions for a sustainable future. We are a self-sustaining program of Western Washington University. In a world where the lives of our neighbors next door are inextricably linked to those of our neighbors abroad, students need to understand the linkages between local and global issues, and how they can personally help to build positive local and global communities. We empower teachers with the resources they need to ignite their students' interest in complex global issues while helping them achieve academically. Our approach is positive and solutions-oriented, and our business model is systemic and leveraged: Facing the Future programming reaches hundreds of thousands of students each year at a cost of less than $3 per student.
- Climate Change Action Projects
- Climate Change: Connections and Solutions (available free thanks to Hewlett-Packard Company)
- Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard
Colorado Foundation for Water Education - The mission of the Colorado Foundation for Water Education is to promote better understanding of Colorado's water resources and issues by providing balanced and accurate information and education. We accomplish our mission through the production of high-quality educational tools and experiences-which we've been doing since 2002.
Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District - Following the floods September 2013 and on behalf of the Fountain Creek Watershed Flood Control and Greenway District, Matrix Design Group prepared an application for the Colorado Watershed Restoration Program Special Release October 2013 being offered by the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Grant funding was sought to bring various municipal and regional stakeholders together in a coordinated effort to address recent flooding impacts and provide flood restoration master planning along reaches in the Upper Fountain Creek and Cheyenne Creek watersheds following the flood events that occurred in the summer of 2013. This work will assess impacts to the stream corridors and develop conceptual plans for mitigation of flooding and sedimentation, and restoration of the corridors. The effects of flooding, erosion and sedimentation in the Upper Fountain Creek watershed has received attention during the past two years as a result of significant effects on the watershed since the Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012.
The Water Page - The Water Page is an independent initiative dedicated to the promotion of sustainable water resources management and use. A particular emphasis is placed on the development, utilization and protection of water in Africa and other developing regions.
Western Water Assessment "Climate Change in Colorado: A Synthesis to Support Water Resources Management and Adaptation" 2014 - The Climate Change in Colorado report is a synthesis of climate science relevant for management and planning for Colorado's water resources. It focuses on observed climate trends, climate modeling, and projections of temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and streamflow. The 2014 report is a thorough revision and expansion of the 2008 report of the same name, also produced by WWA in partnership with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB).
World Water Monitoring Day - World Water Monitoring ChallengeTM (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local waterbodies. WWMC grew out of the World Water Monitoring Day program in 2012. While an official "day" continues to be observed each year on September 18, the broader "challenge" encourages people everywhere to test the quality of their waterways, share their findings, and protect our most precious resource. The program runs annually from March 22 (the United Nations World Water Day) until December 31. The primary goal of World Water Monitoring Challenge is to educate and engage citizens in the protection of the world's water resources. Many people are unaware of the impact their behaviors have on water quality. Conducting simple monitoring tests teaches participants about some of the most common indicators of water health and encourages further participation in more formal citizen monitoring efforts.
Zooniverse - The Zooniverse is the world's largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers-hundreds of thousands of people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.
Human Environment Interaction (Four Corners Summer Institute 2011)
- Asking Geographic Questions
- Community Mapping: Putting Pieces Together
- Into the Field
- Place- and Community-Based Education in Schools
- Place-Based Education
- Reading Landscapes
- Using an Urban "Attractiveness Index" as a Method in Teaching College-Level Field Geography
- Integrating Literature and the Social Studies with Google Lit Trips
- Lessons from the Bioregion
- Sense of Place and Place-Based Introductory Geoscience Teaching for American Indian and Alaska Native Undergraduates
- Visualizing Economic Development with ArcGIS Explorer
Past Articles
- Wall Street Journal Article: "In Arid West, Thirsty Lawns Get Cut From Plans", October 13, 2009
- Online Article: Ludden, Jennifer. "Forecasting Climate with a Chance of Backlash" On NPR.org
- "Leak Offers Glimpse of Campaign Against Climate Science", Gillis and Kaufman, The New York Times, February 15, 2012
- Water Footprint: Yet Another 'Footprint' to Worry About: Water, Alexander Alter, The Wall Street Journal