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In this interactive lesson, students will understand the concept of carbon footprint and its role in climate change. Students learn how to measure their carbon footprint using an online carbon footprint calculator. This tool allows them to assess the environmental impact of their daily activities. Students will explore some effective strategies and actions aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. They will be able to recognize the responsibilities of citizens and the government to help create a greener future.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will investigate how the legislature creates policies and passes laws in response to citizens’ needs through direct instruction. Students will then analyze three environmental policies, answer questions, engage in discussion and then transfer this knowledge to create a policy that works to solve their original researched environmental issue. This is lesson 2 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and biology.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will transfer the knowledge they gained from their researched environmental issue in part 1 and the policy making process in part 2 to now draft a policy that works to solve the issue they originally researched. Students will then engage in an activity in order to argue and defend their policy and to ensure that it is the most effective solution for their environmental issue. This is lesson 3 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and biology.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be introduced to environmental issues that connect with their biology learnung and will then research to create a poster or model (in groups) that answers the Who? What? Where? When? Why? about the environmental issue they've chosen. This is lesson 1 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and biology.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be analyzing and interpreting the legislative intent of the Florida Beach and Shore Preservation Act as a legislative solution to ecological problems found in coastal areas of the state due to harmful human activity in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore the political, social, and environmental consequences of government monitoring and policy decisions regarding sustainable use of land and water.  They will interpret the Florida statutes and consider their impact on the citizens and environment of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will assume the roles of various community members involved in a pollution problem in Florida.  They will brainstorm solutions and create a policy to reduce the pollution at their source.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will discover some of the ways humans have impacted South Florida’s environments and explore proposals to help improve and restore them in this integrated lesson plan.

Type: Lesson Plan

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the effects of climate change on the Gulf of Maine and the cod population found there. Although quotas have been instituted to preserve the cod population, they have not been effective because of the unanticipated effects of global warming. The article explores possible solutions. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text on the work the USGS (United States Geological Survey) is doing to monitor the effects of the 2015-2016 winter season as it is impacted by El Niño. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read an informational text from the National Science Foundation. The text describes current research into the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus, with the ultimate goal of using the research to predict and possibly prevent future outbreaks. Scientists are studying three towns in Ecuador by collecting data to help them discover the socioeconomic and environmental factors that put people most at risk for diseases carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, including the Zika virus. The scientists are also examining how virus transmission by these mosquitoes may be affected by climate change. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes text-dependent questions with an answer key, a writing prompt with a sample response, and a writing rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

This resource is about the difficulties of implementing environmental policies and laws that effect human behaviors and land in bordering countries. It uses a reading strategy called SLAM to analyze arguments and identify supporting details in written text.

Type: Lesson Plan

The focus of this MEA is oil spills and their effect on the environment. In this activity, students from a fictitious class are studying about the effects of an oil spill on marine ecosystems and have performed an experiment in which they were asked to try to rid a teaspoon of corn oil from a baking pan filled with two liters of water as thoroughly as possible in a limited timeframe and with limited resources. By examining, analyzing, and evaluating experimental data related to resource usage, disposal, and labor costs, students must face the tradeoffs that are involved in trying to preserve an ecosystem when time, money, and resources are limited.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using short videos, articles and a scavenger hunt, students will learn the process of genetically modifying crops and understand the benefits and drawbacks of genetically modified foods.

Type: Lesson Plan

Sandra Brooke, from FSU Marine Lab, talks about undersea canyon ecosystems.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Enric Cortes discuses shark population data collected and the use of data to influence policy decisions.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dr. Erinn Muller explains how coral health research at Mote Marine Laboratory is driving policy decisions regarding coral reef restoration in Florida.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dr. Melodie Naja of The Everglades Foundation describes research and modeling programs designed to better understand origins and localized levels of phosphorous pollution in the Everglades.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Dr. Mahmood Shivji explains how rapid genetic testing of shark tissue samples is used to address societal pressures on marine environments.

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

NOAA Scientist Doug Devries discusses the differences between fishery independent surveys and fishery independent surveys.  Discussion includes trap sampling as well as camera sampling. Using graphs to show changes in population of red snapper.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

You'll need to bring your computer skills and math knowledge to estimate oil volume and rate as it seeps from the ocean floor. Dive in!

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

This resource is a student-led project surrounding human impact on the environment in the context of the nature of science (problem solving).

Type: Project

Students will be able to describe the sources of discarded monofilament fishing line and its hazard to wildlife. Students will plan a clean-up campaign in their area. As an option, students can carry out the campaign. During the campaign, students will document the procedure, record the amount of line collected and write a "planning book" to become a resource for others to use.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article describes the effects the Panama Canal expansion may have on the number of invasive species introduced to the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the United States. The article explains how ballast water and wet surface areas are the two ways the invasive species can travel from port to port.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the decline in the population of cod found in the Gulf of Maine. The author writes that fishery managers have set strict quotas on cod, with little positive change. Research indicates climate change has been a major factor in the steady decline of cod, and the text explains why.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. El Niño is known to cause weather disturbances, however, its impact on winter storms causes a slew of additional complications when coupled with rising ocean levels instigated by global warming. The USGS reviews the effects, efforts to study the phenomena, and hints at ways to plan strategically for them in this timely article.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes current research into the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus, with the ultimate goal of using the research to predict and possibly prevent future outbreaks. Scientists are studying three towns in Ecuador by collecting data to help them discover the socioeconomic and environmental factors that put people most at risk for diseases carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, including the Zika virus. The scientists are also examining how virus transmission by these mosquitoes may be affected by climate change.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article expresses its author's opinion about culling animals in zoos, which is reducing a population by selective slaughter. The argument supports the idea of culling as a way to control inbreeding and to control the breeding of animals that will not help the species stay adaptable and immune to diseases.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Hurricane Sandy was one of the biggest storms to hit New York City in recent history. Intense wind and rain caused major damage all over the city and surrounding areas. The storm exposed how over development of reclaimed land and lack of political action to protect the city has led to major flooding—and probably will again unless action is taken.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Rain and runoff carry pollutants from human activity to the sea in places like Tacoma, Washington. The city has devised a scientific process for identifying sources and pathways of pollution and is making headway in reducing pollutant buildup and damage. By utilizing forensic methods to find the source of pollution and fining polluters, Tacoma is winning the war.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses a troublesome milestone in climate science: the CO₂ levels in Earth's atmosphere stayed above 400 ppm for the entire month of April 2014. The article discusses the significance of this measurement and how CO₂ levels impact the atmosphere.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses how sinkholes form, ways to recognize impending sinkholes, and ways to prevent them.

Type: Text Resource

How do coral reef conservationists balance the environmental needs of the reefs with locals who need the reefs to survive? Joshua Drew draws on the islands of Fiji and their exemplary system of protection, called "connectivity", which also keep the needs of fishermen in mind.

Type: Tutorial

This lab simulation will allow you to explore how carbon circulates through the environment. Through data collection and analysis, you will experiment with the impact that humans are having on the cycling of carbon and make data based predictions on how these impacts may change environmental outcomes to the year 2100.

Type: Tutorial