We are now ready to concentrate on our mission of learning to become responsible people. We will discover that issues concerning our environment are not in black or white. Grey areas exist and they must be investigated to learn how various laws might impact the lives of people as well as the environment.
To begin, we should discuss with the students the meaning of the word “threshold” since different elements in the environment have different thresholds. The CEPUP kit “Determining Threshold Limits” has activities to help the student with this concept.
The 6 activities include processes and societal issues.
1. Processes:
Observe threshold of taste for salt solution.
Analyze data using a bar chart.
Societal Issues:
Can the quality of our drinking water be determined by taste and smell?
2. Processes:
Conduct qualitative analysis.
Societal Issues:
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What are the policy implications of the presence of potentially harmful chemicals in our drinking water?
3. Processes:
Extrapolate and interpolate from experimentally determined graphed data.
Societal Issues:
What is the proper method of disposing of a harmful substance?
4. Processes:
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Use simulated animal experiments to study acute and chronic effects of a potentially toxic substance.
Societal Issues:
How are toxicity levels for potentially toxic substances determined?
5. Students are exposed to the realities of using animal experiments to determine toxic levels for humans.
6. Using given experimental data students in this activity explore the difference between acute and chronic toxicity.
We can now talk about the various areas on earth and how various forms of pollution effects them.