This activity gives students a way to look at how organisms are connected to ecosystems through the cycling of matter and the flow of energy. By the end of the activity, students will be able to make distinctions between how matter and energy are used and transferred and will be encouraged to apply this important crosscutting concept to the world around them.

First, students observe an animal, then they reflect on how it uses matter from food to build body structures and energy from food to do things. Students look at food as “packages” of matter and energy that animals (and plants) consume. They also think about wastes, such as poo, pee, sweat, heat, and carbon dioxide. This is a focused activity best used as part of an extended matter and energy-themed experience, and it works best after students have had time to explore, check out organisms in other ways, and be physically active.

This course explores connections between what we eat and who we are through cross-cultural study of how personal and collective identities, social relations, and economic inequalities are formed and maintained via practices of food production, preparation, and consumption. Discussions are organized around critical discussion of what makes “good” food good (tasty, healthy, authentic, ethical, etc.), and draw on anthropological studies as well as recent writing and films on the politics of food and agriculture. A primary goal of the course is to provide students with conceptual tools to understand and evaluate food systems at local and global levels. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication is provided.

In September 2022, students from Centennial College’s Community Development Work Program did a deep dive into the topic of waste. Students from the Sustainable Community Development class dug into these topics and produced a book exploring six different dimensions of waste: fashion, plastics in the ocean, e-waste, food waste, sewage, and medical waste. Small groups of students worked on each topic and came back together to teach each other about what they were learning. The class was made up of students from around the world, and so they researched the topic of waste in Canada, but also drew on their experiences to research the topics globally in countries like the Philippines, India, and China. Students also highlighted one article per topic that brought new perspectives to their research.

Each chapter illuminates both the problems that exist, and also the sustainable and innovative solutions that are being found. In the spirit of collaboration, these chapters were edited and published by students in the Centennial College Publishing Program and the Open Educational Resources (OER) Lab.

The Wasted: Don't Trash the Earth curriculum asks students to examine the impact of the waste we locally and globally produce and seek creative solutions to reduce this wastefulness by answering the driving question: "How can we, as youth, rethink waste?"

This course explores the values (aesthetic, moral, cultural, religious, prudential, political) expressed in the choices of food people eat. Analyzes the decisions individuals make about what to eat, how society should manage food production and consumption collectively, and how reflection on food choices might help resolve conflicts between different values.

In this design challenge lesson students explore the Denver Public School District’s solid waste plan and discuss how their school can save or decrease emissions by reducing solid waste at our school.

This lesson provides guidance for students to create and practice a presentation about design challenge results that they developed in the previous unit lessons and how to present it to the school administration.

In this activity students utilize collected data and propose solutions to mitigate food waste in their school.

This lesson outlines for students how to design and carry out an investigation to audit their school’s food waste system.

In this design challenge lesson, students examine their school food system and develop an investigation about food waste in order to know what should change.

Aquatic ecosystems are home to a complex intersection of physical and biological factors and an intersection of natural and anthropogenic factors. In the Chesapeake Bay, low oxygen events have occurred periodically and may be connected with harmful algal blooms, fish kills, heavy flooding/runoff events, and warming temperatures. Careful monitoring of the system by the Chesapeake Bay Program since 1984 allows scientists and policymakers to evaluate the causes of the events and monitor improvements in the health of the ecosystem.

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Objectives
-Demonstrate to students the enormous amount of produce that is wasted daily because they do not fit the aesthetic criteria of producers, retailers, and consumers.
-Show students that fruits and vegetables that do not look “perfect” taste the same as ones you find in the store.

Students explore the concept of "reducing" solid waste and how it relates to product packaging and engineering advancements in packaging materials. They read about and evaluate the highly publicized packaging decisions of two major U.S. corporations. Then they evaluate different ways to package items in order to minimize the environmental impact, while considering issues such as cost, availability, product attractiveness, etc. In addition, students explore "hydropulping" and consider its use as a recycling process.

Waste disposal has been an ongoing problem since medieval times. Environmental engineers are employed to develop technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the United States. In this lesson, students will learn about the three methods of waste disposal in use by modern communities. They will also investigate how engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent leachate from polluting the underlining groundwater.

In this lesson, students will extend their knowledge of matter and energy cycles in an organism to engineering life cycle assessment of a product. Students will learn about product life cycle assessment and the flow of energy through the cycle, comparing it to the flow of nutrients and energy in the life cycle of an organism.

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:

"Domesticated edible insects are a sustainable protein source that has been gaining global attention. P. brevitarsis is one such species, and their larvae can also eat decaying organic waste and turn it into a plant-growth promoting mixture. But organic matter like this is high in lignocellulose, which is difficult to digest. In fact, these larvae lack the enzymes needed to break lignocellulose down on their own. So, researchers checked their microbiome for microbial genes able to fill in the gaps. The researchers established a comprehensive reference catalog of gut microbial and host genes. Between the two sets of genes, lignocellulose-degrading enzymes were abundant and highly diversified. P. brevitarsis larvae also selectively enriched their microbiome for lignocellulose-degrading microbes and had physiological adaptations that assisted in lignocellulose degradation..."

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

Part two in the series Paradise under Pressure/ Paradis under pres: https://paradis-under-pres.simplecast.com/

There is good reason to invest in tourism in Zanzibar. In 2019, it was expected that over half a million tourists would visit the island, which is only half the size of Funen island in Denmark. Tourists bring in money and growth, but research shows that, for example, Zanzibarians only have 11% of managerial jobs in restaurants and only 20% of tourism revenue goes to the local community, while 53% disappear from the island.

Danish:
Der er god grund til at investere i turismen på Zanzibar. I 2019 forventede man, at over en halv million turister ville besøge øen, som kun er halvt så stor som Fyn. Turisterne bringer penge og vækst, men forskningen viser, at zanzibarianere for eksempel kun har 11% af lederjobs på restauranter og kun 20% af indtægterne fra turismen går til lokalsamfundet, imens hele 53% forsvinder væk fra øen.

Mientras que el desperdicio de comida no es típicamente visto como un contribuyente de emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero, es un contribuyente mayor. Reducir el desperdicio de comida es la 3era solución más beneficiosa para la reducción de dichos gases. La comida desperdiciada y los recursos para producirla, son responsables del aproximadamente 8% de las emisiones globales de gases de efecto invernadero. Cuando los individuos y grupos reducen el desperdicio de comida, esto tiene un gran impacto en la reducción de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. La conciencia del desperdicio de comida es aplicable a cada persona y comunidad. En este caso, los estudiantes van a conducir una “auditoría de desperdicio de comida”. Cada clase de estudiantes participantes recolecta, clasifica y mide su desperdicio de comida por un día durante el almuerzo. Los estudiantes discuten las causas locales y globales y los efectos del desperdicio de comida en el ambiente. Los estudiantes también aprenden las conexiones culturales alrededor del desperdicio de comida de los expertos o gente mayor de las tribus locales, e indagan cómo las diferentes agencias en la comunidad lidian con el desperdicio de comida (e.g. tiendas de abarrotes, bancos de comida, la ciudad). Los estudiantes presentan sus resultados y crean un plan de acción.

El desperdicio de comida es uno de los principales contribuyentes a los gases de efecto invernadero. Los alimentos desperdiciados y los recursos para producirlos son responsables de aproximadamente el 8% de las emisiones mundiales de gases de efecto invernadero. En este caso, los estudiantes aprenden sobre los recursos necesarios para producir alimentos a través del ciclo del carbono y descubren cómo el desperdicio de alimentos contribuye al cambio climático. También aprenderán la cadena de transporte de la granja a la mesa y cómo llevar a cabo una evaluación de desperdicio de comida. Finalmente, los estudiantes investigarán soluciones al problema del desperdicio de comida y, como proyecto final, presentarán una solución que han investigado a fondo que puede ser aplicable a su comunidad. Para los maestros de CTE, este caso proporciona el conocimiento básico necesario para desarrollar una comprensión profunda de POR QUÉ reducir el desperdicio de comida es una solución importante para el cambio climático. Hay varias extensiones potenciales que los maestros de ciencias del consumo familiar pueden utilizar, así como los maestros de Agricultura e incluso los maestros de Negocios. Hay una lista parcial al final de las progresiones de aprendizaje.

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:

"Every year, over 9 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean and can harm its ecosystems. When it comes to marine microbes, most of the current research has focused on those that directly colonize the plastic particles. But plastic also leaches chemical additives into the water, which could impact planktonic microbes as well. So, researchers tested the impact of leachate from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a common plastic, and zinc, a plastic additive, on a natural planktonic community. Some microorganisms, including both bacteria and eukaryotes, were impaired by exposure to plastic leachates. Photosynthetic microorganisms, the base of the food web, were particularly strongly affected, showing declines in photosynthetic efficiency, diversity, and abundance. Other important and normally highly abundant bacterial groups were also negatively impacted. In contrast, microorganisms that thrive in nutrient-rich environments, copiotrophs, dramatically increased in relative abundance..."

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