In the nineteenth century, America's burgeoning population certainly did grab all the timber it could. Vast pine forests stretched from Maine to Dakota, and the lumber industry voraciously consumed them from east to west. In 1800, the Minnesota territory was sparsely sprinkled with fur traders and American Indians. By 1850, its bounteous forests…

In this article, the author presents a first-hand account of teaching environmental protection in the Wushan Mountain area of China. Combining the knowledge in the textbook with social practice, the lessons focused on enabling the students to develop a sense of responsibility and duty through personal experiences. What began as a lesson in…

Lead (Pb) is one of the most significant environmental contaminants worldwide and has significant human health effects. Historic use of Pb in paint and gasoline, in particular, have made this contaminant ubiquitous in our environment although widespread use of Pb has declined in the USA. Unfortunately, segments of the population are still…

The cumulative result of almost 100 years of mining, milling, and smelting has left areas of Jasper County, Missouri, contaminated with high levels of the trace metals Pb, Cd, and Zn. The site was listed on the National Priorities List in 1990 and is now known as the Jasper County or Oronogo-Duenweg Mining Belt Superfund Site. The U.S.…

Zoo projects that encourage reflective learning and are legitimate undertakings for untrained undergraduates are hard to develop. In this article, the author, as a professor in anthropology, discusses and teaches primate studies. His pedagogical goal in teaching primate studies is to enhance the process of learning, and to consider that students…

Introduction: This article results from a qualitative case study focusing on the information seeking practices of environmental activists. The main attention was devoted to their perceptions of media credibility and cognitive authority in the context of seeking orienting information about environmental issues in particular. Method: The empirical…

Most children know they should not pollute but have never considered why. One elementary school teacher creates a lesson for third- through fifth-grade students that makes the connection concrete. In the lesson, students consider the possible effects a trash item would have on an animal and its habitat, identifying ways in which the piece of trash…

Increasingly recognized as having significant economic and ecological impacts, non-native invasive species have become an important interdisciplinary topic in biological and social science courses. Oceanic island systems like Hawaii have been particularly susceptible to invaders and efforts to prevent further invasions focus on reducing the…

The message of living simply and wanting less may be the most important message outdoor educators can give their students. The nature of outdoor education provides a combination of factors that create an effective learning environment for the practice of living simply. These factors are: (1) going away from the home or school environment to a…

This instructional packet deals with biology, soil ecology, and specific farming practices that promote sustainable agriculture. It focuses on different types of life in the soil, the interactions that occur, and how proper tillage and nutrient management can enhance and develop beneficial soil life. The instructional materials are designed to…

This curriculum guide is an attempt to tackle difficult environmental issues through familiar and realistic outdoor teaching formulas. It presents activities that combine experience-based techniques with complex global issues and involves a step-by-step process that an instructor may walk through in order to find the location in their curriculum…

Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) is a nonprofit water education program for educators and young people. This curriculum and activity guide for kindergarten through twelfth grades is a collection of innovative, water-related activities that are hands-on, easy to use, and fun. The activities incorporate a variety of formats such as large…

This manual was developed by the Community Resource Curriculum Development Project (CRCDP), a cooperative project to develop multi-disciplinary, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural science/social sciences teaching units based upon the Illinois State Goals for Learning. This manual contains seven teaching units that include several experience-based…

The primary emphasis of this book is on new or revised earth science activities that promote concept development rather than mere verification of concepts learned by passive means. Chapter 2 describes philosophies, strategies, methods, and techniques to guide preservice and inservice teachers, school building administrators, and curriculum…

This unit contains activities dealing with wastes, the Greenhouse Effect, ozone depletion, energy, deforestation, and species extinction. Each section has a text to explain the issues and a crossword puzzle to reinforce the vocabulary. There are diagrams with questions that can be used as handouts or as transparency masters. (EH)