Students learn about the wonderful and fascinating country of China, and its environmental challenges that require engineering solutions, many in the form of increased energy efficiency, the incorporation of renewable energy, and new engineering developments for urban and rural areas. China is fast becoming an extremely influential factor in our world today, and will likely have a large role in shaping the decades ahead. China is the world's largest energy consumer and the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions, leading engineers and scientists to be concerned about the role these emissions play in rural and urban public and environmental health, as well as in global climate change. Through exploring some sources of air pollution, appropriate housing for different climate zones, and the types of renewable energy, the lessons and activities of this unit present ways that engineers are helping people in China, using an approach to cleaner, smarter, healthier and more-efficient ways of living that apply to people wherever they live.

In this unit, students explore the various roles of environmental engineers, including: environmental cleanup, water quality, groundwater resources, surface water and groundwater flow, water contamination, waste disposal and air pollution. Specifically, students learn about the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that enable different animals and plants to survive in their environments. Next, students learn about groundwater and how environmental engineers study groundwater to predict the distribution of surface pollution. Students also learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow. Additionally, students discover that the water they drink everyday comes from many different sources, including surface water and groundwater. They investigate possible scenarios of drinking water contamination and how contaminants can negatively affect the organisms that come in contact with them. Students learn about the three most common methods of waste disposal and how environmental engineers continue to develop technologies to dispose of trash. Lastly, students learn what causes air pollution and how to investigate the different pollutants that exist, such as toxic gases and particulate matter. Also, they investigate the technologies developed by engineers to reduce air pollution.

Students do background reading on the atmosphere (see URLs below). The questions in this activity are divided up into atmospheric structure, stratospheric ozone, and acid rain. This activity helps students to understand the basic structure of the atmosphere as well as ozone and acid rain problems.

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The following are potential questions that could be used in a gallery walk activity about climate. The questions are organized according to the cognitive level at which students are engaged, using Bloom's Taxonomy.

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When smoke from wildfires swirls around health care facilities, prepared hospitals in California and Colorado use air quality tools to keep the indoor environment safe for patients and staff.

Students capture and examine air particles to gain an appreciation of how much dust, pollen and other particulate matter is present in the air around them. Students place "pollution detectors" at various locations to determine which places have a lot of particles in the air and which places do not have as many. Quantifying and describing these particles is a first step towards engineering methods of removing contaminants from the air.

In today’s world, the most debated environmental issues are climate change, pollution, deforestation, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, waste management and genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). However, there is an issue that most people don’t even think about and yet has important effects on human health: the quality of indoor air. A poor indoor air quality (IAQ) has been found responsible for the death of 4.3 million people in 2012, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The purpose of this unit is to provide the middle and high school Science teachers with an overview of the main sources of indoor air pollution (breathing and carbon dioxide emissions in highly occupied classrooms, tobacco smoking, use of electronic cigarettes and emissions of organic compounds resulted from the use of cleaning agents, building materials). Students will explore and study the indoor air compounds that are harmful for human health, identify the sources of indoor air pollution and learn what they can do to reduce that pollution inside classrooms and homes. Teachers will use the concepts of indoor air pollution to expose students to organic and inorganic chemistry and introduce students to the basic nomenclature of organic compounds.

Students will also study and model the concentration of indoor pollutants and find out how much a classroom must be ventilated in order to keep the concentrations of some pollutants (for example carbon dioxide) at a low level.

The unit is intended to be taught in high school Chemistry, Physical and Environmental Science classes, but it can be used also by middle school 7th and 8th grade Science teachers to introduce students to concepts related to indoor air pollution.

The unit will last approximately two weeks.

Through an overview of some of the environmental challenges facing the growing and evolving country of China today, students learn about the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution that China is struggling to curb with the help of engineers and scientists. This includes the sources of particulate matter 2.5 and carbon dioxide, and air pollution impacts on the health of people and the environment.

Students are presented with examples of the types of problems that environmental engineers solve, specifically focusing on air and land quality issues. Air quality topics include air pollution sources, results of poor air quality including global warming, acid rain and air pollution, as well as ways to reduce air pollution. Land quality topics include the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources, the results of non-renewable resource misuse and ways to reduce land pollution. (Water quality is introduced in a later lesson in a separate presentation, as it is the focal point of this unit curriculum.)

In this writing assingment, students research and analyze the Dust Bowl. Students analyze data, analyze and integrate different sources of information, and present a well developed written argument.

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This activity is a self-created lab investigation where students gather data on acid and its affects on seed germination.

Students identify types and sources of indoor air pollutants in their school and home environments. They evaluate actions that can be taken to reduce and prevent poor indoor air quality. In an associated literacy activity, students develop a persuasive peer-to-peer case against smoking with the goal to understand how language usage can influence perception, attitudes and behavior.

Students use next-generation air quality monitors to measure gas-phase pollutants in the classroom. They apply the knowledge they gained during the associated lesson—an understanding of the connection between air pollutants and their possible sources. Student teams choose three potential pollutant sources and predict how the monitor’s sensors will respond. Then they evaluate whether or not their predictions were correct, and provide possible explanations for any inaccuracies. This activity serves as a simple introduction to the low-cost air quality monitoring technology that students use throughout the associated activities that follow. Three student handouts are provided.

Learners will identify sources of air pollution, explain the greenhouse effect, and detail procedures for improving and maintaining air quality. This represents a portion of the Introduction to Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) series in Nebraska middle and high school agricultural education.

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 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:

"Isoprene is the most abundantly produced biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) on earth.,with annual global emissions rivaling those of methane. Unfortunately, surprisingly little is known about how isoprene is degraded in the environment. A recent study reveals a new set of bacteria that can metabolize isoprene. Researchers used DNA isotope probing to study microbes that degrade isoprene derived from oil palm trees. Among the new genera they discovered were Novosphingobium, Pelomonas, Rhodoblastus, Sphingomonas and Zoogloea. Metagenomic analysis further demonstrated that oil palm soil harboured more and more-diverse isoprene-degrading bacteria than leaves. That finding suggests that oil palm soils could be a bigger sink for isoprene than previously thought. Understanding the distribution and identity of isoprene degraders in the environment is crucial. to determine the extent to which microbes mitigate the effects of this abundant but neglected climate-active gas..."

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

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.

To gain a better understanding of the roles and functions of components of the human respiratory system and our need for clean air, students construct model lungs that include a diaphragm and chest cavity. They see how air moving in and out of the lungs coincides with diaphragm movement. Then student teams design and build a prototype face mask pollution filter. They use their model lungs to evaluate their prototypes to design requirements.

By supplementing existing traditional labs on mineral and rock identification, and on interpreting geologic maps, and creating a lab time for analyzing data available on the web, the students will determine if indoor radon levels correlate best to bedrock geology or to glacial deposits in New York State.

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This activity provides an approach to teach field methods that is programmed to avoid common pitfalls in teaching field methods to students. The two common problems that are avoided is familiarity with equipment and improved group function.

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