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TASK 4: What is an environmentally sustainable society?
TASK 4: What is an environmentally sustainable society?
Checkpoint 4:
Checkpoint 4:
You will need to do research throughout this checkpoint to gather information about the issue, tools, methods, data collection, and more. To help you, reference the Google Slides Presentation below.
Now that you have learned about what it means to be sustainable, think about what characteristics a sustainable society would have.
Write down your ideas.
You are the mayor of a big city that is known for having a large ecological footprint. You want to help make your city more sustainable, and more green. However, you can't focus on every single issue that exists, so you have to narrow it down to just one.
Pick one characteristic of a sustainable society from your list above.
I will complete this activity using the example of clean air (so you have to choose a different one).
Now, write a testable, specific question about improving the characteristic in your city. It's up to you to figure out or decide why the problem exists in your community.
Example: What would the effect be on the city's air quality if we reward people for carpooling?
After you have written your question, write a hypothesis. This will be an "if. . . then. . ." statement that describes what you think the answer to your question is. Make sure to include your reasoning.
Example: If we reward people for carpooling, then the quality of air will increase because there will be less cars on the road putting out emissions.
Now that you have a hypothesis, you are ready to start defining your variables. This step might be a little tricky because most environmental issues will take time to see results, and you will be comparing the result to what was seen in the past. Do your best to identify the independent and dependent variables and describe how you know. In this case, the control (or the thing that stays the same) is going to be past data on your issue.
Example: The independent variable is the number of cars on the road because this number is not influenced by the quality of air. The dependent variable is the air quality because it depends on the number of cars on the road (the more cars there are, the worse the air gets).
After you determine which variable is your independent one and which is the dependent one, you are ready to plan and organize an investigation. Think about what type of data you need, the tools you will use to collect it, and the methods you will use to collect data. You will also need to write clear steps so that other cities will be able to follow your plan (if it works).
Example: I need numerical data about carbon emissions in the air. I will need to use a CarbonMAP to collect data about carbon emissions. The steps I will follow are:
Release citywide broadcasts informing people that we are focusing on cleaner air.
Encourage people to carpool or take public transportation where possible by offering free parking everywhere to anyone who does not drive alone.
Every week, use highway footage and data from the parking garages/meters to determine if more people are carpooling.
Every day, monitor the level of carbon in the air using the CarbonMAP. Do this at the same time every day. Record your data.
After carefully running your experiment for 1 year, you decide to analyze your results. Success! Through your plan, you were able to get the result you wanted. Now it is time to share!
Using Slate, submit the name of your made-up city and the information from each of the steps above.
I need to see a research question, a hypothesis, your variables, and the investigation plan.
This checkpoint will allow me to give you feedback on competencies SCI.1.1-1.4, which will be part of your laboratory experience.
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