For teachers
There are several articles and web-based resources that I accessed in order to learn more background on certain topics. These articles and websites are as follows:
Douglas, K. Anna, and Johannes Strobel. "Hopes and Goals Survey for Use in STEM Elementary Education." International Journal of Technology and Design Education 25, no. 2 (08, 2014): 245-59. doi:10.1007/s10798-014-9277-9.: This survey was given to a group of students in urban environments. It dealt with different questions and the responses that these students gave. This article had a lot of insight on why focusing on STEM in urban environments is critically important.
Ferrara, Rosario. "The Smart City and the Green Economy in Europe: A Critical Approach."
Energies
8, no. 6 (05, 2015): 4724-734. doi:10.3390/en8064724.: This article focuses on the vertical gardens in Singapore. These vertical gardens are called “Supertrees”. These supertrees help the environment in the city in many ways, they provide shelter and habitats for certain species and also help to cool down the city and reduce the effects of the Urban Heat Island. This article supports the notion that vegetation helps to cool urban environments.
Kabul Tarihi, Makale. “Turkey’s Foreign Dependence on Energy and Wind Power as an Alternative Energy Resource.”
U.U. International Journal of Social Inquiry
9 no. 2 (2016) 1-31. This article discusses how Turkey is growing increasingly dependent on wind energy as an alternative energy source. It explains the reasoning behind this decision as well as the costs, benefits, and how they are harnessing this energy.
Wang, Zhi-Hua, Chao Fan, Soe W. Myint, and Chenghao Wang. "Size Matters: What Are the Characteristic Source Areas for Urban Planning Strategies?"
Plos One
11, no. 11 (11, 2016). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0165726. : This article contained information about the Urban Heat Island effect and what this means for urban environments. It also contained a lot of useful information about urban infrastructure and why environmental engineers are needed in these areas.
Watt, Anneliese. "NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering: Rhetorical Analysis of Grand Challenges Website."
2012 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference
, 10 2012. doi:10.1109/ipcc.2012.6408651. : This article was critically important while I was developing this curriculum. It highlights what current engineers determine to be the biggest challenges that they should be focusing on. This article discusses challenges such as urban infrastructure and alternative energy sources. This was my “go-to” source when I need clarification on a specific topic.
"What Does Sustainability Mean for Children?" UNICEF UK. May 25, 2017. https://www.unicef.org.uk/define-sustainability-children/.: This website helps to describe what sustainability is in terms that elementary students will be able to comprehend and be able to explain themselves when discussing this unit.
"What Is Mitigation?" What Is Disaster Assistance? | FEMA.gov
https://www.fema.gov/what-mitigation. : Mitigation can be a tricky concept to teach to children, this website helped me to develop a deeper meaning for what mitigation is and how I could explain it to my students in terms that they would be able to understand and use on their own during discussions.
For students
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss: This book can be read initially by the teacher, but the students can access it throughout the unit. This is a great text that introduces urbanization and factorization. It demonstrates what happens when we do not take care of our environment. It can also be used to demonstrate why we must make our own communities more sustainable.
Materials for hands on activities
Solar Energy Kits: These hands-on kits can be ordered online through a retailer such as Amazon. There is a large variety of kits and what they use solar energy to power. You should pick the kit that you think will most engage your students in the learning. I decided to use a solar powered car and a solar powered iPhone charger. I felt that these two kits demonstrated that we can use solar energy in different ways however, driving and charging a phone are very important to young children so I felt that they would invest in these kits the most.
Wind Energy Kits: Similarly, to the solar energy kits, wind energy kits can also be ordered online. They also have a variety of choices to pick from. Again, I urge you to pick options that will engage your students the most while demonstrating that we are using wind energy to power these objects. I chose to use a wind powered car as well as a wind powered light bulb. I again decided I wanted to use these kits because I felt my students would be most invested in interested in them.