Students will investigate how the factors that influence erosion work together to produce an overall erosion rate. In agricultural areas, these factors are rainfall-runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, slope characteristics, and agricultural practices. Students will analyze changes in precipitation predicted by climate change models to consider how a changing climate could influence erosion rates in agricultural areas.

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In this week-long unit students will explore Critical Zone function and dynamics as they relate to nutrient cycling in agricultural systems and nutrient pollution into aquatic systems. This unit is generally subdivided into three sections: (1) nutrient pollution (2) agricultural importance and (3) Critical Zone function and dynamics in relation to nutrient cycling. The students will use data sets, interactive activities, primary literature, and videos to allow them to examine the role that the CZ plays and how that role changes with differing land uses. Important present-day topics of food production, clean water, nutrient pollution, and sustainable agriculture are examined using a CZ lens. Students will interact with each other on a variety of scales (individual, small groups, entire class) and using a variety of modes (presentations, written reports, question and answers, and class discussion) in this unit. Additionally, optional activities are provided if lab activities are able to be accommodated. The unit ends with a summative assessment assignment that is based on an innovative call for proposals to combat one of America's most widespread, costly, and challenging environmental problems: nutrient pollution.

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For a given region, students will use what they have learned about the interdisciplinary problem of soil sustainability to make recommendations for agricultural practices in response to potential changes in climate. Students will present their findings in a fact sheet that describes best practices for mitigating potential changes while remaining sensitive to stakeholder concerns and feasibility. Finally, students will complete a final personal reflection on their own learning.

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In this unit, students address the issue of groundwater demands and environmental justice in the arid Southwest, a region with some of the largest percentages of Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. Students discuss the Rule of Capture, the overuse of water resources, and the dwindling supply of groundwater in many parts of the Ogallala Aquifer. Students connect groundwater's role to the hydrological cycle and consider how issues of inequity can occur when groundwater is not properly regulated.

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Humans not only reside in the Critical Zone, they depend upon the land and water to provide sustenance. This unit will examine how humans affect soil resources and ecosystem services in the Critical Zone through food production. In addition, it will discuss farming practices that led to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Finally, it will examine emerging efforts to grow food locally such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and urban gardening programs.

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Unit Cancellation Lesson 1 VideoComplete Unit Cancellation Packet Lesson 1 Class study session for help or a workday - Complete Unit Cancellation Lesson 1 Packet Practice Exam  Unit Cancellation Lesson 2 VideoComplete Unit Cancellation Packet Lesson 2 Class study session for help or a workday - Complete Unit Cancellation Lesson 2 Packet Practice Exam  Pesticide Lesson 1 and 2 Exam (20 pts)

To prepare for this reflection, students are assigned to do background reading on the organization they will/wish to work with for the Service Learning component of the course. Students then are guided into a reflection with the following questions:

Why should you know about the people or organization with whom you'll be working?
Why do you think this partner was chosen?
After reading about the partner organization, how would you like to contribute to their work, (what kind of support would you give and/or project would you do?) How does it your idea/project relate to the content of the course and the organization mission and goals?
What are you hoping to learn from the collaboration/ project?
What do you hope to have gained from this project and
What do you think your service-learning partner hopes to have gained after completion of this project?

The assignment also gives students practice in eliciting their own thoughts and reflections when approaching a new experience

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This five-day lesson introduces students to micrometers, explains how to read and use these tools, and assesses students' abilities to demonstrate proper micrometer usage and reading.

In this resource, students learn about freshwater resources, how NASA uses satellites to measure precipitation, and how that data can be used in agricultural practices. Students use data from the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement satellite to explore precipitation patterns in two parts of the world and then make recommendations for how to reduce water use in agriculture and in their own lives.

This lesson is designed to familiarize new students with a bench grinder.  Students will learn the key PPE, parts, and then demonstrate how to use it. 

Gauge your students’ skills and teach them new ones in this fun, introductory woodworking project using found pallet lumber.  Valuable for assessing what skills students have, do not have, and how hard students work (tearing apart pallets), while providing planters that can be sold as a fundraiser.  Written by Boyd Bowder.

This is a page on the Fast Plants website, describing the Variegated variety of Fast Plants (Brassica rapa). This page includes suggestions for investigations and teaching applications using this seed variety.

This is a simple and brief overview of a bandsaw, and the basic controls of the bandsaw for operation.

This site includes 55 videos demonstrating veterinary techniques, introducing veterinary equipment and materials, explaining animal body systems and organs, aiding animal identification, and more.

Learn what it takes to get milk from the farm to your table on real Washington dairy farms. It takes serious dedication to keep cows healthy and comfortable while preserving the planet—see everything that goes into producing dairy in Washington’s own backyard with this interactive lesson plan for grades 6-8. 

Learn what it takes to get milk from the farm to your table on real Washington dairy farms. It takes serious dedication to keep cows healthy and comfortable while preserving the planet—see everything that goes into producing dairy in Washington’s own backyard with this interactive lesson plan by the Washington Dairy Council for grades 6-8. 

In this natural science lab, students examine different soil profiles along a hillside. Understanding about topsoil formation and conservation is then related to sustainable agriculture and carbon sequestration and its importance in mitigating climate change.

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During the experiments, students hypothesize the effects of climate variability and weather trends on crops. They will then test their hypothesis and make conclusions regarding the results of heat, wind, and freezing on plants. This will help them understand how farmers work to steward agricultural resources in certain environments.