The first sentence of Rachel Carsons book
Silent Spring
reads, “There was once a town in the middle of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” Are you asking yourself where was this town? Does this town still exist? Unfortunately, this town does not exist any longer. Fortunately, people are becoming more aware of the lack of harmony that man has with nature and are beginning to do something about it.
This resource-based curriculum unit, Environmental Health Hazards and Children, will provide teachers with the information to inform their students of the effects of environmental hazards both globally and locally. The end result will provide students with helpful information to assist them in keeping their communities, homes, and schools as environmentally safe as possible and will make them aware of potential environmental health hazards. The curriculum unit is geared for fourth and fifth grade students and could be used as an impetus for students to continue with further research on a variety of subjects. The unit will provide teachers with successful activities and science experiments. Life science is a major part of this curriculum. According to the National Science Education Standards, students at this level should be able to understand characteristics of organisms, life cycles of organisms, and organisms and their environments. This curriculum unit will concentrate on the latter of the three.
