Lisa S. Alter
Students will gain more experience with open-ended problems, preformance-based labs, writing across the curriculum, and cooperative learning.
The following objectives are taken from
Benchmarks for
Science Literacy
, 1993.
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As a result of this unit, students will be able to understand the following;
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Fresh water, limited in supply, is essential for life and also for most industrial processes. Rivers, lakes, groundwater and all other water bodies can be depleted or polluted, and unsuitable for life.
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The benefits of the Earth’s resources, can be reduced by using them wastefully or by deliberately or inadvertently destroying them. The ocean and Long Island Sound have a limited capacity to absorb and recycle materials naturally. Cleaning up polluted water can be difficult and costly.
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The global/ local environment is affected by policies and practices relating to energy use, waste disposal, ecological management, manufacturing, and population.
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Waste management includes considerations of quantity, safety, degradability, and cost. It requires social and technological innovations, because waste-disposal problems are political and economic as well as technical.
In addition to the above, students will understand the impact Long Island Sound has on their lives, and the effect they have on its health.