Curated OER
Sources of Potential Groundwater Contamination
Students construct models that demonstrate potential sources of contamination. Students select one type of contamination model (septic system, sinkhole, landfill, disposal lagoon, leaky barrels, oil spill, agricultural contamination) to...
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Risk Communication: Media Presentation Exercise
Students work in groups to prepare a brief broadcast or print news report from one of five possible viewpoints about an environmental contamination scenario. Students are given basic information about a chemical spill in a small town and...
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Pollution or Prevention?
Students examine potential contamination on the environment due to products and by-products of a new industrial process. Students conduct a lab that explores the economic differences between choices of pollution cleanup and prevention.
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Water Contamination Demonstration
Young scholars discuss water pollution and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 after watching a teacher demonstration in which different contaminants are added to tap water. While some contaminants are not harmful to the body, in excess...
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Storm Drain Dumping
Students conduct an experiment to show how water gets contaminated through neighborhood runoffs.
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Landfills and the Potential for Groundwater Contamination
Students examine how a sanitary landfill is constructed, how it functions, and how waste and leachate affects the areas around the landfill. After a discussion about landfills and leachates, students construct a Sanitary Landfill Model...
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What are the Ethical Considerations of Radon?
In this radon contamination worksheet, students explore the legal and ethical issues associated with radon found in indoor air of homes. Students construct a set of laws that promote fairness to all sellers, buyers and real estate agents...
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Microbial Contaminants in Drinking Water
When presented with three unopened bottles of water, high schoolers are asked to tell decide which one is contaminated with a microbe. Students work in small groups and role play being a Microbiologist, a patient, or a recorder. The...
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There Must Be Something in the Water
Students read a New York Times article as a class and discuss how groundwater near a nuclear test site may have been contaminated. They explore how groundwater contamination can spread through aquifers by participating in a simulation.
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Air Quality: Everyone's Responsibility
Learners identify and interpret the causes of air pollution in their local community. They collect and analyze data to identify pollutants in the air and seek solutions to eliminate the contaminants in the atmosphere. Finally, students...
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More About Water Below the Ground
Students examine groundwater and its relationship to springs, artesian wells, ordinary wells, and sinkholes. They describe the process by which sinkholes are formed. They investigate saltwater contamination and its causes.
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From Ground to Water
Students explore groundwater and issues relating to groundwater. They discus the problems involving groundwater. Students write a newspaper story addressing groundwater problems. They create a comic strip addressing groundwater...
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Do You Drink It?
Pupils explore the aquifer. They create a model of an aquifer and explain how a well works. Students explore the relationship between a well and the water table. They explore the various ways that groundwater becomes contaminated.
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Think Before You Drink!
Middle schoolers complete an online quiz about their familiarity with water issues. As a class, they watch a demonstration by their teacher and work together in groups to make water change into its various states. To end the lesson,...
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Land and People: Cape Cod Activity 1
Students make a model aquifer to study the uniqueness of Cape Cod's ground-water system. Using the model., they determine how easily contamination spreads in the aquifer system by completing and recording three activities. Using the...
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Leach Out and Touch Someone
Learners discuss how groundwater becomes polluted. In groups, they design and create models of groundwater pollution sources. They demonstrate to the class how the water may become contaminated from local and nonlocal pollution sources.
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Porosity And Permeability
Students participate in an exercise/experiment designed to show how environmental pollution can affect the quality of drinking water.
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Food Safety to Prevent Food-Borne Illness
Learners examine strategies and guidelines to prevent food-borne illnesses and contamination through proper handwashing, handling of foods, and food preparation. They review fact sheets on food-borne illnesses, and watch and discuss...
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Groundwater Lab
In this groundwater learning exercise, learners simulate a pumping well and a pumping well near an injection well using plastic bottles and dirt. They use food coloring to act as a contaminate to see the movement of food color into the...
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Household Pests
Identify methods that prevent food-borne illnesses and contamination. National Standard 14.4.1 Identify food-borne illness Identify types of food-borne illness and their symptoms: botulism, e-coli, hepatitis, salmonella, staphylococci...
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Water
Students learn about the history of Indiana's water and understand how easily pollution can contaminate the water supply. They also learn how little fresh water we have and how important it is to protect it.
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CONTAMINANT SCAVENGER HUNT
Students identify substances and activities within a household that contribute to water pollution and identify safe cleaning alternatives for commercial cleaning products.
Teach Engineering
Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)
The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...
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Food Poisoning
Identify strategies that prevent food-borne illnesses and contamination. National Standard 14.4.1 Identify food-borne illness Identify types of food-borne illness and their symptoms: botulism, e-coli, hepatitis, salmonella, staphylococci...
