In a class demonstration, students observe a simple water cycle model to better understand its role in pollutant transport. This activity shows one way in which pollution is affected by the water cycle; it simulates a point source of pollution in a lake and the resulting environmental consequences.

In this lesson, students will identify the Earth's natural resources and classify them as renewable or non-renewable. They will simulate the distribution of resources and discuss the fairness and effectiveness of the distribution. Students will identify ways that they use and waste natural resources, and they will explore ways that engineers interact with natural resources.

How can ecosystems contribute to quality of life and a more livable, healthier and more resilient urban environment?

Have you ever considered all the different benefits the ecosystem could potentially deliver to you and your surroundings? Unsustainable urbanization has resulted in the loss of biodiversity, the destruction of habitats and has therefore limited the ability of ecosystems to deliver the advantages they could confer.

This course establishes the priorities and highlights the direct values of including principles based on natural processes in urban planning and design. Take a sewage system or a public space for example. By integrating nature-based solutions they can deliver the exact same performance while also being beneficial for the environment, society and economy.

Increased connectivity between existing, modified and new ecosystems and restoring and rehabilitating them within cities through nature-based solutions provides greater resilience and the capacity to adapt more swiftly to cope with the effects of climate change and other global shifts.

This course will teach you about the design, construction, implementation and monitoring of nature-based solutions for urban ecosystems and the ecological coherence of sustainable cities. Constructing smart cities and metropolitan regions with nature-based ecosystems will secure a fair distribution of benefits from the renewed urban ecology.

This course forms a part of the educational programme of the AMS Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and will present the state-of-the-art theories and methods developed by the Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University & Research, two of the founding universities of the AMS Institute.

Instructors, with advanced expertise in Urban Ecology, Environmental Engineering, Urban Planning and Design, will equip designers and planners with the skills they need for the sustainable management of the built environment. The course will also benefit stakeholders from both private and public sectors who want to explore the multiple benefits of restored ecosystems in cities and metropolitan regions. They will gain the knowledge and skills required to make better informed and integrated decisions on city development and urban regeneration schemes.

This class examines the relationship between the study of natural history, both domestic and exotic, by Europeans and Americans, and exploration and exploitation of the natural world, focusing on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Students explore the causes and effects of the Earth's ozone holes through discussion and an interactive simulation. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp.

Students are introduced to acids and bases, and the environmental problem of acid rain. They explore ways to use indicators to distinguish between acids and bases. Students also conduct a simple experiment to model and discuss the harmful effects of acid rain on our living and non-living environment, as well as how engineers address acid rain. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how persuasive techniques are used to develop an argument, and create an environmental case study.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"At birth, the mouth is sterile and relatively germ-free. It's only later that bacteria colonize the mouths of children. But little is understood about how and why certain bacteria triumph over others some of which are responsible for spreading diseases such as dental caries and periodontal disease. It’s a question of what matters more: genetics or environment, nature or nurture? To find out researchers compared the mouths of two groups of people. Parents and their biological children and parents and their adopted children. This design helped researchers separate genetic factors from environmental ones affecting the oral microbiota. Results showed no differences in how closely oral bacterial profiles matched between adoptive versus biological mother-child pairs. In fact, the oral microbiomes of all children more closely resembled those of their own mothers than those of unrelated women suggesting that contact and shared environment play a bigger role than genetics alone..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

400 million tons of plastic is produced every year, 36% of which is designed for single use or packaging. Of that number, only 9% is recycled. It’s fair to say that plastics are everywhere, including the ocean. In fact, approximately 13 million tons of plastic enters oceanic currents annually. Plastic has become a pillar of modern life. It’s going to take a deep, transformational change in humanity’s consciousness and activities regarding the ocean to break the plastic pattern.

We believe this is possible! But we need your help. By relating socio-economic and scientific concepts such as watershed and ocean currents, food chain interactions, and the greenhouse gas effect, youth will learn the history of plastic, how it transformed our consumer habits, how it harms ocean health, exacerbates the current climate crisis, and how they can protect our ocean from further plastic pollution and restore the ecosystems already affected.

Through this education kit’s activities, students will be given the knowledge, tools, and skills to break their plastic pattern and become leaders of change – and this all starts in your classroom.

This module teaches students about ozone’s role in the atmosphere and explores authentic data to compare and contrast conditions that affect ground-level ozone values.

This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.

This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the clean-up effort after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska. Also featured is a marsh where an oil spill occurred 20 years earlier; analysis suggests that environmental damage may last for decades.

Oil spills have been a persistent problem since the start of the oil industry. Millions of wells and trillions of barrels of oil extracted have resulted in significant environmental impact. Accidents in the complex supply chain release toxic crude and refined oil, posing health risks and requiring costly cleanup. Safety measures have improved, but unreported spills remain a concern.

Looking at models and maps, students explore different pathways and consequences of pollutant transport via the weather and water cycles. In an associated literacy activity, students develop skills of observation, recording and reporting as they follow the weather forecast and produce their own weather report for the class.

Students work in engineering teams to optimize cleaner energy solutions for cooking and heating in rural China. They choose between various options for heating, cooking, hot water, and lights and other electricity, balancing between the cost and health effects of different energy choices.

EMSC 302 provides an orientation of the Energy and Sustainability Policy (ESP) degree program, preparing students for further study in the five program learning outcome areas: energy industry knowledge, global perspective, analytical skills, communication skills, and sustainability ethics. It also provides an introduction to the basic skills necessary to be successful in higher-ed online learning, including communication and library skills.

Students are introduced to the fabulous planet on which they live. Even though we spend our entire lives on Earth, we still do not always understand how it fits into the rest of the solar system. Students learn about the Earth's position in the solar system and what makes it unique. They learn how engineers study human interactions with the Earth and design technologies and systems to monitor, use and care for our planet's resources wisely to preserve life on Earth.

In this lesson, students will compare weather and climate, explain patterns over time and make observations by creating a rain gauge.

NGSS: 3-ESS2-1

Time: 55 minutes

Materials: laminated patterns in nature photos (photos included), thermometer for the class, duct tape, data sheet, rulers, sharpies, scissors, empty soda bottles for rain gauages, pebbles

In this lesson students will learn about evaporation, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, and the greenhouse effect. Patterns in nautre are discussed, including what is happening over time and why we should care.

NGSS: 5-ESS2-1, 5-ESS3-1

Time: 55 minutes - 1 hour

Materials: laminated patterns in nature photos (photos included), plastic cups, rulers, Sharpies

In this lesson, students will compare weather and climate, explain patterns over time and participate in a climate relay race.

NGSS: K-ESS2-1

Time: 45-50 minutes

Materials: globe, flashlight, three sets of clothing for the relay race (sunglasses, sunhat, swim suit, board shorts, rain jacket, hiking boots, umbrella, sweater, heavy jacket, warm hat, gloves, scarf, etc.)