Provides simple ideas that teachers can use to develop a biodiversity monitoring project at their school. (Author/CCM)

Finds that many restoration projects have attempted to replace the native species, but project planners often have an imperfect understanding of the plant communities they are trying to re-create. Argues that when students join these projects, they may receive an inaccurate impression of local ecosystems. (Author/CCM)

Describes a tool used at an outdoor school to demonstrate human impact on ecology. The ecological footprint is a measure in hectares of the land used by an individual to meet needs and receive waste materials, or of the land required to sustain a city, region or country. The footprint helps students understand the concept of sustainability. (AIM)

Discusses the dangers of increasing numbers of students, tourists, and families laden with buckets, jars, and plastic bags handling and collecting marine life on rocky shores. (CCM)

Explains how to guide students in building models of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and ozone using multicolored candy and toothpicks. Also includes an explanation of the simulated reaction and extension questions. (DDR)

Discusses the current global shift from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric worldview that emphasizes cooperation and communion rather than competition and dominance. Suggests that leadership for the emergence of this new perspective of our relationship with the earth can be provided by environmental educators skilled in cooperative social…

Presents an activity that helps students explore how energy moves through an ecosystem. Students become plants and animals that thrive in a place near the school. In these roles they are allowed to experience the energy cycle. Materials for this activity are simple and easy to acquire. (DDR)

Outlines an activity which requires students to monitor what they eat for 3-5 days, tabulate the nature and quantity of their food, trace the food's ingredients to their source, calculate the ecological footprint of their food intake, and extrapolate the effect on the earth if everyone ate as we do. (AIM)

Criticizes environmental education efforts for failing to teach children how to make environmental decisions. States that environmental education has constructed no agreed-upon paradigm for how environmental literacy is delivered, focuses too much attention on words such as "awareness" and "values" and too little on knowledge…

Discusses alien species on the west coast, efforts to combat invasions, methods of transport, and educational projects developed to aid prevention efforts. Includes a list of marine invaders in the Pacific Northwest, plus threats from California and the Great Lakes. (PVD)

Summarizes what is known about two major variables involved in certain types of chemical pollution that seem to be changing the structure of the Earth's atmosphere. Discusses the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer. (TW)

Provides interdisciplinary ideas to accompany environmental education activities for kindergarten through grade 12. Topics of the activities include water pollution, soil erosion, and salmon homing instincts. Interdisciplinary areas include fine arts, language arts, and social studies. (DDR)

Describes activities for K-12 students, most of which are adapted from "The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Scientific Discovery Educator's Resource Guide" created by the partnership of Fort Clatsop National Memorial and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Author/KHR)

Describes activities which sharpen awareness of trees through the senses in this first of a two-part integrated unit for teaching children about forest ecosystems. Students interact and work in collaborative groups; learn about the impact of forests on daily life; explore the interdependence of plants, animals, soil, water, air, and light; explore…

The conditions and trends for four clusters of global issues--the air and the sky, the fishes and the sea, the creatures and the land, and people and poverty--are presented. The topics of climate change, the ozone hole, air pollution, biological diversity, deforestation, and desertification are discussed. (KR)