Earth Day, an occasion promoted by environmental organizations and advocates to raise awareness of conservation issues, is April 22. It’s an event that dates back to 1970. Teachers sometimes organize lessons and activities in the weeks leading up to that day on environmental themes. That doesn’t mean they have to create lessons from any particular political or ideological perspective; a good science lesson can account for the environmental and economic complexities of issues such as climate change, for instance, renewable energy, and land conservation.
Teachers looking for ideas for lessons have plenty of resources. Here are a few on the Web I’ve come across:
The Globe Project offers reading materials, lessons, and activities, on the carbon cycle, weather, watersheds, and other topics, with downloadable files. The National Environmental Education Foundation offers a “curricula library” for teachers, sorted by grade level. The Environmental Protection Agency’s site has several activities and resources for kids and teachers. (Earlier this year, the EPA launched a blog for students.) In addition, here’s a Web site that offers a compendium of Earth Day resources.
For teachers who’ve created lessons around Earth Day, what resources have been of most use to you?