From the time of early humans to the time of the astronauts, few have realized how closely all living things in the world are related to each other. Today many people and especially young people, are looking at the whole world in an effort to learn about the life web that threads through the entire planet. Everyone must agree that a better understanding of the relationship between human kind and the environment is a positive step forward to help solve environmental problems. Each human being must accept his own person as a part of the ecosystem, and develop and use a workable set of ecological values.
This curriculum unit is aimed at getting middle school students to become critically aware of environmental problems and issues and to help them realize that they can make a difference and help heal our planet.
In this unit, students will learn the importance of chemical cycles to organisms in the environment, the role of recycling and the measures being taken to prevent endangered animals from becoming extinct.
The teaching methods will include experiments, discussions, debates, field trips, role playing and oral reports. Other features that will be included in the unit are lesson plans, reading lists and bibliography. The duration of the unit is about four weeks and an interdisciplinary approach is encouraged among teachers.
