Environment Presentation

Go to: http://earth.tryse.net/oilspill.html

Make sure you have installed the Google Earth plugin

Click 'Preview in the Google Earth Plugin

What is the main goal of environmental education?

What did environmental education look like when you were in school? Has it changed?

• What caused the oil spill your group selected?

• How is the environment being impacted (different Earth systems, animals, plants, bodies of water, ecosystems, people, etc.)?

• Do any of the oil spills have similarities? Differences?

Be prepared to share your answers and a brief description of the oil spill to the class.

"The fact that we regard 'society' and 'nature' as being two seperate entities says a great deal about our perception of nature; such a viewpoint would probably be incomprehensible to the members of a traditional hunter-gatherer community."

Oil Spill Experiment

Sustainability

In Your Groups...

Create a definition for Environmental Education on the chart paper provided.

•The generally accepted definition of sustainability is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”-International Institute for Sustainable Development

Scenario:

Imagine a ship loaded with tons of oil accidentally dumped its contents into the Rideau Canal. An intermediate class should have no problem assisting the City of Ottawa in cleaning up the spill. Mayor Jim Watson asked the students to test different materials to see which works best at absorbing oil in the waters.

Google Earth is a technological tool that allows

teachers to have students explore the geographic distribution of events—–in this case, global oil spill disasters.

The Google Earth interface provides the opportunity

for students to learn new science content while at the

same time to develop their geographic knowledge and technologic skills.

this exercise provides students a foundation of the context

of global oil spills over space and time.

What are you currently doing to help achieve sustainability or promote sustainable practices?

at home?

at work?

and in the community?

Answer Key:

New N.W.T oil prospect raising economic hopes and environmental concerns

Environmental Education

e

Grade 1

BY LAUREN KRUGEL, THE CANADIAN PRESSAUGUST 12, 2012

c

Grade 2

f

Grade 3

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=7079395&sponsor=

a

h

Grade 4

Materials:

• 1 500ml beaker for discarded oil

• 6 250ml glass beakers per group pre-filled with 100ml of water and food coloring

• 6 30 ml plastic cups per group

• 1 small bag (approx 1g) of hair

• 1 small sponge

• 3 cotton balls

• 1 piece (10cm x 10cm) of cloth

• 1 straw

• 1 Marshmallow

• 1 Feather

a

Grade 5

Assess the role of humans in maintaining a healthy environment.

Assess ways in which animals have an impact on society and the environment, and ways in which humans have an impact upon animals and the places where they live.

Assess ways in which plants have an impact on society and the environment, and ways in which human activity has an impact on plants and plant habitats.

Evaluate the impact of pulleys and gears on society and the environment.

Analyze social and environmental impacts of forces acting on structures and mechanisms.

Assess the societal and environmental impacts of flying devices that make use of properties of air.

(Interaction with the Environment) Assess the impacts of human activities and technologies on the environment, and evaluate ways of controlling these impacts.

Assess the personal, social, and/or environmental impacts of a system, and evaluate improvements to a system and/or alternative ways of meeting the same needs.

d

Grade 6

By: Lysanne Darmody, Nadia Helal &,

Deanna Taudien

b

Grade 7

Grade 8

g

b

Utilizing Google Earth to Teach Students about Global Oil Spill Disasters

•Students can use the technology of Google Earth to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of oil spills.

•Also assists in developing student geographic and technologic literacy.

•In April 2008, with a May 2010 update, David Tryse created a Google Earth file titled “Black Tides: The Worst Oil Spills in History.”

•The file contains details pertaining to the 50 worst oil spills from the 1960s to the present across the globe.

Your Task

The History of Humankind

* Each group will explore the oil spills in their

continent.

*Each group will select one oil spill from their

continent to use in order to explore the following questions:

Resources:

Conformed to demands of the environment

http://earth.tryse.net/oilspill.html

Hunter Gatherers

Agricultural Societies

Industrialised Societies

Adapted to a certain extent to the environment,

but they also transformed the land for their own needs

c

Environmental Education

Using

Google Earth

To the greatest extent , adapted the environment to fulfil human needs.

Group 4

Group 1

Group 5

Group 3

Group 2

Group 6

“One hundred trout are needed to support one man for a year. The trout, in turn, must consume 90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million grasshoppers that live off of 1,000 tons of grass.”

–G. Tyler Miller Jr., author and environmentalist.

What will you do to help sustain our planet for future generations?

d

-The exercise contains 20 questions provided to students.

-Once students open the file in Google Earth, they are presented with a series of short-answer questions and a final writing assignment.

-The questions later in the exercise increase their focus in analyzing, evaluating, and creating new knowledge.

-Questions 15 through 19 specifically address the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the final question provides three different writing prompts for students to synthesize and apply all they have learned while undergoing the exercise.

e

Connecting with Nature

• Focus is to help children explore their profound connection to nature and each other as well as build capacity for environmental stewardship.

• People will not fight to protect what they don’t value and respect.

• Studies have shown that spending time in nature helps with recall and memory, problem-solving and creativity.

f

How? Elementary Grades

• Cross-curricular lessons

• Outdoor component to lessons

• Inquiry-based learning options

• Technology options to enhance learning and connections with nature

• Student engagement/community connections and assessment strategies

Reflection/Conclusion:

➢ How many predicted that the hair would be the most absorbent?

➢ How many thought the sponge would be the most absorbent?

➢ Why is it so difficult to separate oil from water?

➢ What about hair makes it best for removing oil?

➢ What do the results mean for wildlife living in our oceans?

➢ Name other human activities that have negative consequences on our environment.

➢ Name real-life examples in North America where oil extraction is serious concern.

Global environmental crisis: Is there a connection with place-based, ecosociocultural education in rural spain? (2011). Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6(2), 327-335. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/881470288?accountid=14701

Kagawa, F. (2007). Dissonance in students' perceptions of sustainable development and sustainability: I Barrett, J. M. (2006). Education for the environment: Action competence, becoming, and story. Environmental Education Research, 12(3), 9-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/62107839?accountid=14701

Implications for curriculum change. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8(3), 317-338. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/61935327?accountid=14701

Leal Filho, W. (2011). World trends in education for sustainable development. environmental education, communication and sustainability. volume 32 Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften. Eschborner Landstrasse 42-50, D-60489 Frankurt am Main, Germany. Tel: +49-78-07-05-0; Fax: +49-78-07-05-50; e-mail: zentrale.frankfurt@peterlang.com; Web site: http://www.peterlang.com. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1018479936?accountid=14701

Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario Curriculum Grade 1-8: Science and Technology. Retrieved online http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/scientec18currb.pdfReis,

Neville, L. G. (2011). Utilizing Google Earth to Teach Students about Global Oil Spills Disasters. Science Activities , 48, 1-8.

G. & Wolff-Michael, R. (2009) A feeling for the environment: emotion talk in/for the pedagogy of public environment education. The Journal of Environmental Education. 41(2), 71-87. Retrieved from http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/details.xqy?uri=/00958964/v41i0002/71_affteetpopee.xml

William, G.Ecopedagogy in the age of globalization: Educators' perspectives of environmental education programs in the americas which incorporate social justice models. , 324-324. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1037910178?accountid=14701. (1037910178; ED533850).

Some Useful Websites:

g

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/downloads/CWN_TeachersGuide.pdf

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/connecting-with-nature-education-guide/#l

http://calc.zerofootprint.net/youth/http://flood.firetree.net/

h

Instructions

1. Organize yourselves into six groups. The purpose of this experiment is to absorb oil from the test tubes using the various materials in front of you.

2. Under normal lab classroom setting a coat and goggles would be required for safety purposes.

3. Prior to beginning the activity fill in the “Before” portion of the worksheet which offers the group’s hypotheses.

4. Ensure each of the test tubes are filled with 100ml of water and food coloring.

5. Add 30ml of vegetable oil to each of the tubes.

6. One at a time, members of the group will test each of the materials provided (Cotton balls, sponge, hair, cloth, feathers, and marshmallow) by soaking it in the oily water for 10-15 seconds.

7. Observe how much oil is absorbed by each of the materials and rank the materials in order from most absorbent (1) to least (6).

8. Answer the additional questions on the worksheet.

9. Classroom discussion based on results.

10. Help clean up classroom after experiment.