This interdisciplinary unit will combine science curricula on energy sources and the environment with social studies curricula outlining communities and their societal place. The unit is intended to show students the need to sustain natural resources in an effort to build a community that not only shrinks its footprint but preserves the environment to fit the needs of the future. Students will therefore be better prepared to take more responsibility in their decisions, in their learning and in their job as a thoughtful member of a community. Students will be able to evaluate the environmental issues involved in community planning and make changes to existing communities as they design their own sustainable community.
This unit will better instruct students through interdisciplinary connections, about the effect of their own ecological footprint and best practices to reduce it. They will understand how human activity and industrialization add to environmental pollution which then affects the enclosed habitats. They will recognize and understand the need for sustainability in a world of consumption. Students will know what it means to be "green" as they learn about energy sources and their place in the powering of a community. Students will also have a clearer understanding about urbanization, the three different types of communities and their members.
(Developed for Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts, grade 2; recommended for Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts, Elementary grades 2-6)
