Curriculum Units

Unit 1: Urban Ecology

In the Urban Ecology Unit, students will:

• Develop ecosystem literacy at the local scale by making a land use decision regarding the addition of an athletic field to their school grounds.
• Investigate how land use impacts hydrology, nitrogen flux, biotic factors, social factors, and ecosystem services.
• Build a case for their chosen land use proposal through evidence-based arguments that address all variables.

Unit 2: Sprawl

In the Sprawl Unit, students will:

• Consider a proposal proposed to convert farmland into a suburban housing development,
• Explore the impact of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity.
• Map landscape elements.
• Investigate biodiversity, social factors, carbon flux, economics, and green design.
• Debate land use alternatives and build a case to support their chosen plan for the farmland.

See the sample lesson here

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Unit 3: Amazonia

In the Amazonia Unit, students will:

• Explore connections between human practices contributing to deforestation in Amazonia and the ways those practices impact local, regional, and global climate.
• Understand the rainforest’s role in regulating global climate.
• Analyze patterns of deforestation alongside agricultural and ranching practices in the region.
• Prepare a land use plan designed to optimize biodiversity, economic benefits, and sustainability in a small region of Amazonia.

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Unit 4: Arctic

In the Arctic Unit, students will:

• Explore how local and global warming patterns impact the Arctic biosystem.
• Investigate changes in the biosystem caused by heat energy flux, population dynamics, conservation biology, adaptation, and natural selection.
• Analyze current data regarding climate change and effects on the Arctic region.
• Use data to forecast outcomes for selected Arctic species facing climate change.
• Develop conservation strategies for Artic species affected by climate change.

See the sample lesson here

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