This lesson was originally created to give elementary school teachers a foundation for understanding the impacts of climate change. Teachers, acting as students, physically participate in the movement of carbon throughout various biospheres.
Simulating the Tragedy of Commons illustrates for students to how sustaining our natural resources requires conservation and the cooperative use of those resources.
Students build a watershed model to define what a watershed is, identify the different parts within a watershed, and discover how water moves within a watershed. After learning Best Management Practices and mitigation techniques, students rebuild their models.
Students model the life cycle of a salmon by moving from station to station following directions they receive on the station cards. They experience the challenges, both natural and human-caused, that salmon face.
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Students build a model of the steps taken for a plastic spoon to reach the landfill. Through this, they learn about the energy and resources used in the process and devise actions people can take to minimize the impact on the environment.