Yolanda U. Trapp
CONCEPTS
Developing Science Process Skills.
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Science process skills are the thinking abilities that relate to scientific investigations. They include observing, classifying, comparing, contrasting, predicting, and more. Leading the students through these important skills will make them "think like scientists".
How Will I Do This?
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Using children's natural curiosity about their environment, reading along with me, creating charts model ways of presenting information through graphic organizers investigating and experimenting with appropriate tools and equipment. Rocks, plants, insects, birds, clouds-even the moon and stars-all could become the basis for hands-on scientific investigations, both at home and in the classroom.
Fast Concepts About Ecology And A Balanced Environment.
Ecology means the relationship of organisms to each other and to their environment. The word ecology is derived from the Greek, Oikos, meaning household, and in this instance, the household is the whole Earth. Interrelationships are central to an understanding of ecology. These interrelationships are as follow: A tree falls in the forest, and all the species who used to live in, on and under the tree will loose and probably change forever the life of the species that had been growing underneath it. Older children can comprehend the concepts of Ecology, but it is generally difficult, if not impossible, for elementary school children. However, concrete examples, such as the one mentioned, could build a basis for a child's abstract reasoning and better understanding of the concepts. (10)
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1) For children a Balanced Environment requires an understanding of Ecology or the relationship of living and not living things and their environment.
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2) It requires an awareness of cumulative problems in the use and misuse of Earth's resources such as water, air, trees and plants, animal life, soil and minerals.
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3) A Balanced Environment means putting a stop to Air Pollution, reducing garbage, protecting plants and animals.
Sources Of Air Pollution
Air Pollution: The atmosphere contains a number of pollutants. Some of these are produced by natural events such as the eruptions of volcanoes, wind-produced dust storms, and the decay of radioactive substances in rocks. The major source of air pollutants, however, is human activity. The burning of coal and wood caused pollution in London as long ago as the 1200's. Today the combustion of fuels in vehicles, factories, and power plants is the major contributor to air pollution. The evaporation of volatile compounds in solvents, paints, and oils adds to the pollutants found in the air. Various mining, manufacturing, and processing activities produce particulate matter that becomes part of the air. The important consideration is not only the amount of pollutants in the air, but also the specific kind. The pollutants most dangerous to health are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and particulates. (11)
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Balanced Environment means: Reducing Garbage. This includes both recycling and recycling the materials we use. The world is running out of places to dispose or refuse. The solution is to reduce trash at its source. Studies have shown that up to 86 % of household waste could be recycled. Products that could be recycled include aluminum cans, glass, paper, cardboard, and metals such as brass, copper and lead.
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Aluminum: Aluminum is one of the easiest materials to recycle. Used aluminum can be recycled and made into new aluminum. There are recycling centers that pay money for collecting aluminum cans, foil and others. The aluminum can be used over and over again. This material is very light but strong. Industries use it to make baseball bats, airplanes, cars and other things that need to be strong aluminum.
Plastic: Plastic is used practically for everything. Most of the food we eat comes in some type of plastic. If we don't put plastic in the right place, it could be dangerous for living things like seabirds, turtles and seals. They could get caught in plastic bags and soda rings and hurt and kill them. Plastic fills one third of our landfills, and it take ten to twenty years to break apart in a landfill. Plastic containers can take almost 200 to 500 years. Anything made with plastic foam will never change.
Cardboard and Paper: We use cardboard and paper every day at school and a home. The paper industry depends heavily on recycling. More than half of all paper made in the U.S. is made from what once would have been considered "waste"-that is, recycled paper or residue from other wood product manufacturing processes.
Recycling Glass: Glass of the same color is fed into the plant on a conveyor belt. Caps and labels are removed by people, sometimes helped by magnets. The glass is crushed by a machine into small, smooth lumps and put into a furnace with other raw materials, including sand and limestone. The furnace melts them into molten glass, which is poured into molds for jars, bottles, or other glass items. Glass left lying around as litter can be an environmental hazard. Small mammals such as mice can squeeze into discarded bottles. They may be unable to get out and may die of starvation. Broken glass is a hazard to both animals and people's feet. Every year about 6,000 people need hospital treatment because of accidents involving broken glass. (12)
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Balanced Environment means avoiding hazardous or toxic wastes, which contaminate food, water, and air and threaten the ecosystem on which we depend.
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Toxic and Hazardous Wastes: Nuclear power as a source of electricity seems to be an ideal alternative, but presently it creates its own environmental hazards. The process of creating energy by atomic fission leaves behind dangerous waste products. The world is discovering that there is currently no safe way to dispose of this nuclear waste. We must make sure that water from the reactor is cooled before it is dumped into rivers and streams. Dumping heated water into waterways is a form of water pollution that kills fish and other aquatic life. (13) Nuclear energy is efficient but it produces dangerous radioactivity that last for thousands of years.
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6). Balanced Environment means to protect trees. Trees help the air clean, are homes to birds and animals, provide fruits, nuts and oils and are used to make medicines. Trees are the giants of the plant world. They are the oldest living things on Earth and the most useful plants on the planet. Trees are essential to our civilization. Not just helpful or enjoyable or pleasant, but essential.
Forests help moderate the Earth's water cycle acting as huge sponges to absorb, store and slowly release the water essential to plants and animals. The forest is a complex community where trees and other plants and animals live in delicate balance. There are concerns about the forests future. One of the most serious problems threatening forest though, is deforestation, specially in the tropical rain forest. The rainforest around the Amazon River is the largest in the world. Many kinds of plants and animals live there. The rainforests that form a fertile ring around the equator do function like the "Earth's Lungs", regulating planetary climate by absorbing huge amounts of deadly carbon dioxide. And the vast destruction of the rainforest in this century, along with the rise in fossil fuel usage, is a major contributing factor in global warming. Every year, forty million acres of tropical rain forest are destroyed worldwide. That's an area larger than the state of California. (14)
GOALS
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Thinking like a Scientist
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To Preserve and Protect
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Awareness of Ecological Principles and Basic Concepts on Environmental Science
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To use Critical Thinking Skills
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To initiate class participation in the study of environmental issues
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To develop Science Process Skills
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To foster scientific values
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To encourage questions
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To build science vocabulary
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To praise curiosity and creativity
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To sharpen observation skills
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Demonstrate benefit of teamwork
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Instruct on proper use of tools
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Teach data recording skills
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Place value on independent thought
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Provide stimulating, hands-on activities and make Science Fun!!
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