For Teachers
Table of Contents
Some of these resources are divided by location, but other than school trips, some funding options, and location-specific class materials (individual watersheds for example) this detail may not always be particularly important in reference to the subject matter. Some materials may be very universal or might benefit from small edits about land marks, cultural references, foods, or organism species to make them more relevant to your students and region, so please click around to see what's on offer, but let us know if there's anything specific you'd like to be added to this resource page.
Adaptation & Resilience
Click the Climate Change, Geography, & Adaptation button for educational materials about these topics.
Click the Eco-Friendly Schools & Adaptation button to learn about hands-on ways schools can teach students about adaptation.
Air Quality
North America
USA
California
Spare the Air Youth "We collaborate with organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area to encourage youth and their families to walk, bicycle, carpool, and take transit."
Suggested Routes to School Maps - Safe Routes to School
Youth Outreach Education includes resources such as Speaker Requests - Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Animals & Life Cycles
Click the Animals & Life Cycles page for more information about some fascinating topics that will educate and inspire your students.
We've also included a section about how pollution effects wildlife, to help students learn about ways they can reduce these pollutions at home, such as turning off outdoor lights and closing curtains or blinds to reduce light pollution.
Arts & Media
Classroom Activities: Teach "Bring the wonder of space to your students. Explore our universe of science, technology, engineering and math activities and resources." Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
Europe
UK
Sea Shepherd UK Education: Teaching Materials Includes Art, English, Geography, Math, and Science for younger children.
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Health, Conservations, & Fragmentation
International
Ecosystem Restoration Camps " are repairing the earth. We are bringing everyday people together, to restore degraded ecosystems from the ground up." This program is building camps all over the world to give environmentalists with decades of experience the opportunity to train the next generation of activists. Each camps also functions as a living lab with the intention of creating replicable models that can be used elsewhere and scaled up or adjusted as needed. Click any of the links and scroll down to see the camp locations around the world, or register to build your own camp!
Asia
Cambodia
Free The Bears: Awareness, Communication, and Education (ACE) Teams provide local and internationals youth groups with tailor-mades schedules packed with interactive lessons, games and activities about wildlife, the environment, conservation and sustainability.
Our Cambodia sanctuary has an on-site interactive classroom, The Bear Den, the only one of its kind in Asia, featuring viewing areas into the bears’ dens, a fascinating Bear Skull collection and an educational library.
We also visit schools and other institutions, and collaborate with local universities to support students studying Biodiversity Conservation of bears.
We've helped train rangers and scientists in Bear Sign Surveys awarded scholarships for post-grad studies, trained local villagers in snare patrols and trained local keepers and vets, who have become fierce wildlife warriors and advocates in their local communities."
"All of our bear sanctuaries feature learning zones with bear viewing areas."
North America
Canada
Habitat in the Balance "An online decision-making program, for Grades 7 to 12, in which the student examines issues from one of three main topic areas: water, inhabitants, and land." (Requires log in to save progress) - SEED's Connections
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
USA
Classroom Investigation Series: Native Plants (PDF) from the Bureau of Land Management. "This activity prompts students to examine what native plants are and what roles they play for both nature and human culture. In North America, native species are generally recognized as those that existed on the continent prior to contact by Europeans in the late 15th century. After discussing some of the many benefits of native plants, students will describe to each other how native plants slow erosion, maintain balance among organisms, support pollinators, and diversify the food supply. This is the first of three activities that introduce students to native plants on public lands. The second makes students aware of some of the threats to native plants, and a concluding activity focuses on the tradeoffs facing land managers who want to protect native plant communities."
Chemistry & Climate Science
Click the Chemistry & Climate Science button to learn more.
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Re-Energy: Become a Renewable Energy Engineer "learners of all ages learn about renewable energy, the different sources of renewable energy and explore the co-benefits and trade-offs of using comparable renewable energy systems. In this engaging STEAM program, learners become renewable energy engineers by using detailed construction plans to build their own working models of electric vehicles, energy storage systems, solar ovens, solar cars, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, and biogas generators. Learners can also make use of related links and backgrounders to explore each renewable energy technology in depth. Re-Energy is a proud recipient of the 2017 UL Innovation Education Award!" - Green Learning
Competition,Challenges, & Events
Competitions, challenges, and events can be a great way to get students not only thinking about important topics, but actively engaging.
Click the Competitions & Events button to learn more.
Connecting Students, Schools & Communities With Nature
Click the Connecting Students with Nature button to learn more about programs and locations near you, on-campus solutions, as well as resources for those with disabilities or mobility restrictions.
Conservation
Asia
Cambodia
Free The Bears: Awareness, Communication, and Education (ACE) Teams provide local and internationals youth groups with tailor-mades schedules packed with interactive lessons, games and activities about wildlife, the environment, conservation and sustainability.
Our Cambodia sanctuary has an on-site interactive classroom, The Bear Den, the only one of its kind in Asia, featuring viewing areas into the bears’ dens, a fascinating Bear Skull collection and an educational library.
We also visit schools and other institutions, and collaborate with local universities to support students studying Biodiversity Conservation of bears.
We've helped train rangers and scientists in Bear Sign Surveys awarded scholarships for post-grad studies, trained local villagers in snare patrols and trained local keepers and vets, who have become fierce wildlife warriors and advocates in their local communities."
"All of our bear sanctuaries feature learning zones with bear viewing areas."
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield
Curriculum Guide: Help Students Find the Classes They Need
Here we provide suggestions to help students find the eco-friendly classes that will help set them on their desired path. One of my biggest barriers to getting the qualifications I wanted was simply the struggle to find classes near me that covered the topics I wanted to study. We want to help remove this barrier, so please let us know of any resources we've missed!
International
Ecosystem Restoration Camps " are repairing the earth. We are bringing everyday people together, to restore degraded ecosystems from the ground up." This program is building camps all over the world to give environmentalists with decades of experience the opportunity to train the next generation of activists. Each camps also functions as a living lab with the intention of creating replicable models that can be used elsewhere and scaled up or adjusted as needed. Click any of the links and scroll down to see the camp locations around the world, or register to build your own camp!
Electricity
Solar energy for schools can provide practical, educational, and financial benefits for campuses and their students. Click the Solar for Schools button to learn more, see our directories of organizations, programs, grants/financing, and more.
DIY Projects
How to make a Triboelectric Nanogenerator "These devices convert kinetic energy into electrical energy by exploiting the triboelectric effect."
North America
Canada
EDUKITS "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
Re-Energy: Become a Renewable Energy Engineer "learners of all ages learn about renewable energy, the different sources of renewable energy and explore the co-benefits and trade-offs of using comparable renewable energy systems. In this engaging STEAM program, learners become renewable energy engineers by using detailed construction plans to build their own working models of electric vehicles, energy storage systems, solar ovens, solar cars, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, and biogas generators. Learners can also make use of related links and backgrounders to explore each renewable energy technology in depth. Re-Energy is a proud recipient of the 2017 UL Innovation Education Award!" - Green Learning
Engineering
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
Fuel-Cell-Powered Toy Car Requires a volunteer engineer and fuel cell kit. Could be paired with a kit from the Fuel Cell Store "Education, Research, and Fun since 1999" This company offers STEM kits for educators.
North America
Canada
EDUKITS "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
Field Trip Locations, Programs, & Virtual Field Trips
Click the button below to search our growing directory of physical and virtual field trips for students.
Food
Access to Nutrition
School gardens can include a vegetable garden, orchard, or similar food-growing projects. Click the Garden button to learn more about different types of gardens, and which might be the best fit for your climate, space, and needs.
Combat Hunger
The first step to solving the hunger crisis, is to understand our dietary needs, and the food system. From there we can all make choices that will save resources, and ensure every person on Earth can have their fair share. This is certainly possibly as scientists estimate we could currently feed 12-14 billion people with the amount of food we already produce each year.
Most waste comes from unsustainable food choices on the part of farmers, consumers, and everyone in between. Badly planned subsidies have made this problem worse, but by picking less resource-intense foods, we can reduce the amount of resources used, to produce healthier food choices.
Click the Food Security button to learn more about how healthy and eco-friendly food choices can reduce hunger everywhere.
Click the Combat Hunger button to find apps and organizations who prevent food waste by getting food to people in need.
Growing Food in Harsher Environments
Class Activity Packets for Waffle Gardens
Un jardín de forma de wafle Manteniendo la vida del desierto (PDF)
Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert Lesson kit has visual and written information, plus some data collection sheets that can be printed out for students.
Waffle Garden (PDF) Educational packet from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for grades 3-5
Reducing Food Waste/Composting
Composting is fairly easy, reduces land fill waste, reduces emissions and prevent water contamination. It's also a cheap way to provide important nutrients for a school garden. Reducing the amount of waste leaving school grounds can also help save money, and getting kids involved can create long-lasting benefits.
Education: Where does food come from? How is it produced?
How Can a Diet Shift Can Save Water? Article and graphs talk about how little of Earth's water is safe of available to drink, and which human activities have the most impact on our water supplies. - Truth Or Droutght (their resouces include NASA, National Drought Mitigation Center, USGS, International Water Management Institute and more)
You Want to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Food? Focus on What You Eat, Not Whether Your Food is Local article and graphs help demonstrate in simple terms how emissions within the food chain are not just from transportation, and how food simple choices can help reduce our impact. - Our World in Data
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Forests & Forest Fires
Click the Trees link for our directory of resources for free or cheap trees. Some of the programs listed are specifically aimed at tree plantings for schools.
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Funding & Grants
Click the Grants for Schools & Teachers button to find financial opportunities in your area. Some are specifically for upgrading school, specific types of school programs, field trips/transportation, for students themselves, and more.
Gardens & Schoolyards
There are many types of garden and schoolyard features that can fit into different types of spaces, climates, as well as to fit a variety of needs. You may struggle with frequent flooding, struggle to find funding for food programs, or simply want to incorporate outdoor learning into your class plan.
Click the Gardening and Landscaping button to learn more about different types of gardens.
Click the Wildflower button to find out what plants belong in your area and will grow best. The link also includes seed sources including seed libraries, seed swaps, and sources for organic or wild seeds.
Trees help clean our air, provide habitat for wildlife, help cool hot playgrounds, click the button to learn about programs offering free or cheap trees. Some are specifically programs aimed at school tree planting programs.
Floodwater Management on Schoolgrounds
Flooding can be devastating to both school function and school funds. To help protect schools, while also protecting the environment and harnessing this issue as an opportunity for education we have included the following materials.
Public Lecture Series about Green Schoolyards includes information on how school yards can double to work with storm water management - Green Schools America
Rain Gardens & Bioswales Includes coloured examples of what components are needed for a rain garden and bioswale along with information on how they work to provide a variety of benefits - the watershed project
Food Gardening
Food gardening is a great way to supplement school meals with health ingredients, but they can also be learning opportunities for children.
Arid Climates: Class Activity Packets
Un jardín de forma de wafle Manteniendo la vida del desierto (PDF)
Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert Lesson kit has visual and written information, plus some data collection sheets that can be printed out for students.
Waffle Garden (PDF) Educational packet from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for grades 3-5
Schoolyard Activities
"Asphalt to Ecosystems" by Sharon Danks is a book suggested by Green Schools America (may be available in libraries?)
Bee Smart introduction and toolkit. (They ship to the US and Canada)
Celebrate Your School Grounds! Includes PDFs which cover topics such as the Green Schoolyard Movement , and offers science-based curriculum/project ideas that can help enrich student learning, wellbeing, as well as the local environment. Activities are accompanied by recommended age ranges for, detailed materials lists, and vibrant example photos. The maps at the bottom show where contributed ideas came from, in the USA and from around the world. - Green Schools America
Enhance Your Schoolyard Includes PDFs and online materials about Green Mansions, Ecologically Sensitive Materials for Schoolyard Landscapes, and Schoolyard Activity Guides - Green Schools America
Case Studies: Inspiring Precedents "The articles and videos in this section explore exemplary green schoolyard case studies, with multi-faceted programs that engage outdoor learning, creative play, schoolyard ecology and the school community." Includes videos, and PDFs with colour photos. - Green Schools America
Wildlife and Pollinator Gardens
S.H.A.R.E. (Simply Have Areas Reserved for the Environment) includes information about how to get involved and why the project matters. For more information check out How to and requirements for registering for S.H.A.R.E and Tools for S.H.A.R.E.ing
How to Build a Firefly Habitat "Gardeners often don’t realize gardens make for great firefly habitat, helping to replace lost natural habitat. ... The trick is to make your garden as inviting as possible for fireflies to take up residence."
North America
Oceana
New Zealand
Geography
Europe
UK
Sea Shepherd UK Education: Teaching Materials Includes Art, English, Geography, Math, and Science for younger children.
North America
Canada
Habitat in the Balance "An online decision-making program, for Grades 7 to 12, in which the student examines issues from one of three main topic areas: water, inhabitants, and land." (Requires log in to save progress) - SEED's Connections
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Infographics
North America
Canada
Climate Change Adaptation Lessons and Infographics "Download these six infographics to introduce students to the main features of climate change and its effects on the environment, exploring problems such as melting permafrost and ocean acidification. Encourage students to examine the various threats climate change poses to biodiversity, like habitat destruction and foreign pest outbreaks. You can even use the infographics as a jumping-off point to learn about how climate change impacts Canada's economy and the health of Canadians." - Ingenium
Exploring Canada's Energy Future a teacher's guide, activities and infographics designed to help students navigate the importance of energy in Canada. Learn how to use real life Canadian energy data to explore Canada's energy future. Engage in fun activities like Energy Entrepreneurs" where students use data sets to secure investment in imagined energy projects." - Ingenium
Kits & Lesson Plans
Fuel Cell Store "Education, Research, and Fun since 1999" This company offers STEM kits for educators. Could be paired with this Lesson Plan Overview.
North America
Bee Smart introduction and toolkit. (They ship to the US and Canada)
Un jardín de forma de wafle Manteniendo la vida del desierto (PDF)
Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert Lesson kit has visual and written information, plus some data collection sheets that can be printed out for students.
Waffle Garden (PDF) Educational packet from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for grades 3-5
Canada
EDUKITS (Grades 4-6) (Free rental and shipping) "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
Language Arts
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
Europe
UK
Sea Shepherd UK Education: Teaching Materials Includes Art, English, Geography, Math, and Science for younger children.
Math
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
"Firefly" interactive game explores the mathematics of the insects' flashing in multiple languages listed under our Animals section or click the Fireflies button for links to the games in a variety of languages, plus resources about fireflies and glow worms world wide.
Europe
UK
Sea Shepherd UK Education: Teaching Materials Includes Art, English, Geography, Math, and Science for younger children.
Oceans
Shoreline Cleanup Guide "From plastic straws to coffee lids, everything we throw away ends up somewhere. If it doesn’t make it to a landfill, it will find its way to waterways like rivers, lakes and oceans. It really doesn’t belong there – animals can mistake that junk for food and they can get tangled up in it too. Spend some time this June making a body of water near you a cleaner environment for the animals that live there with your own shoreline cleanup. " - Canadian Wildlife Federation
Europe
UK
Sea Shepherd UK Education: Teaching Materials Includes Art, English, Geography, Math, and Science for younger children.
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Professional Development
International
Ecosystem Restoration Camps " are repairing the earth. We are bringing everyday people together, to restore degraded ecosystems from the ground up." This program is building camps all over the world to give environmentalists with decades of experience the opportunity to train the next generation of activists. Each camps also functions as a living lab with the intention of creating replicable models that can be used elsewhere and scaled up or adjusted as needed. Click any of the links and scroll down to see the camp locations around the world, or register to build your own camp!
Asia
Cambodia
Free The Bears: Awareness, Communication, and Education (ACE) Teams provide local and internationals youth groups with tailor-mades schedules packed with interactive lessons, games and activities about wildlife, the environment, conservation and sustainability.
Our Cambodia sanctuary has an on-site interactive classroom, The Bear Den, the only one of its kind in Asia, featuring viewing areas into the bears’ dens, a fascinating Bear Skull collection and an educational library.
We also visit schools and other institutions, and collaborate with local universities to support students studying Biodiversity Conservation of bears.
We've helped train rangers and scientists in Bear Sign Surveys awarded scholarships for post-grad studies, trained local villagers in snare patrols and trained local keepers and vets, who have become fierce wildlife warriors and advocates in their local communities."
"All of our bear sanctuaries feature learning zones with bear viewing areas."
Renewables
Education
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Re-Energy: Become a Renewable Energy Engineer "learners of all ages learn about renewable energy, the different sources of renewable energy and explore the co-benefits and trade-offs of using comparable renewable energy systems. In this engaging STEAM program, learners become renewable energy engineers by using detailed construction plans to build their own working models of electric vehicles, energy storage systems, solar ovens, solar cars, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, and biogas generators. Learners can also make use of related links and backgrounders to explore each renewable energy technology in depth. Re-Energy is a proud recipient of the 2017 UL Innovation Education Award!" - Green Learning
Installations & Financial Support
North America
Canada
Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities Program "An additional $300 million is available until 2027 for your clean energy projects in Indigenous, rural and remote communities across Canada." - Government of Canada
Science Teacher Resources
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
JBA Learning Resources These are divided into lessons for kids ages 7-11, 12-16, as well as for Higher Ed and CPD. Lessons focus on the physics of flood waters, river structures, coasts, water and landscape, mapping flood risks, weather and climate change.
Science at Home
North America
USA
California
Local Partner Resource Guide - Community Resources for Science
STEM
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
Classroom Combos for Grades K-4 Enhance your STEM curriculum with lesson plans and educational resources - NASA
NASA STEM Engagement Explore STEM Resources for K-12 Educators
Fuel Cell Store "Education, Research, and Fun since 1999" This company offers STEM kits for educators. Could be paired with this Lesson Plan Overview.
North America
Canada
EDUKITS (Grades 4-6) (Free rental and shipping) "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
Habitat in the Balance "An online decision-making program, for Grades 7 to 12, in which the student examines issues from one of three main topic areas: water, inhabitants, and land." (Requires log in to save progress) - SEED's Connections
Soil Health, Contamination, & Erosion
North America
Canada
Habitat in the Balance "An online decision-making program, for Grades 7 to 12, in which the student examines issues from one of three main topic areas: water, inhabitants, and land." (Requires log in to save progress) - SEED's Connections
Student Action Projects: Stewardship Preservation/Resource Conservation
International
Ecosystem Restoration Camps " are repairing the earth. We are bringing everyday people together, to restore degraded ecosystems from the ground up." This program is building camps all over the world to give environmentalists with decades of experience the opportunity to train the next generation of activists. Each camps also functions as a living lab with the intention of creating replicable models that can be used elsewhere and scaled up or adjusted as needed. Click any of the links and scroll down to see the camp locations around the world, or register to build your own camp!
A Student Guide for Community Organization (PDF) "I wrote this guide as a collection of anecdotes and lessons I have learned from being an undocumented, working-class woman of color who is also an organizer and a student. I want this guide to inspire people to organize in their communities and develop the tools they need in the ongoing fight for liberation and freedom. I chose to write this guide as a form of resilience.
Over the past six years, I have been an organizer and have had to balance school, work, and being an activist. At times I had to prioritize my organizing over my own academic goals, and I am now just understanding how to balance each part of my life." While this guides is directed at students, it's got valuable lessons for people outside of school too.
United Nations
YUNGA (Youth United Nations Global Alliance) Challenge Badges "Developed in collaboration with United Nations agencies, civil society and other organizations, YUNGA Challenge Badges aim to raise your awareness, educate and motivate you to change your behaviour and become an active agent of change in your local community. The series can be used by teachers in school classes as well as by youth leaders, especially Guide or Scout groups. Challenge Badge activities are both educational – and fun! We want you to enjoy learning about how to make our world a more sustainable, fairer place!"
Asia
Cambodia
Free The Bears: Awareness, Communication, and Education (ACE) Teams provide local and internationals youth groups with tailor-mades schedules packed with interactive lessons, games and activities about wildlife, the environment, conservation and sustainability.
Our Cambodia sanctuary has an on-site interactive classroom, The Bear Den, the only one of its kind in Asia, featuring viewing areas into the bears’ dens, a fascinating Bear Skull collection and an educational library.
We also visit schools and other institutions, and collaborate with local universities to support students studying Biodiversity Conservation of bears.
We've helped train rangers and scientists in Bear Sign Surveys awarded scholarships for post-grad studies, trained local villagers in snare patrols and trained local keepers and vets, who have become fierce wildlife warriors and advocates in their local communities."
"All of our bear sanctuaries feature learning zones with bear viewing areas."
North America
Un jardín de forma de wafle Manteniendo la vida del desierto (PDF)
Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert Lesson kit has visual and written information, plus some data collection sheets that can be printed out for students.
Waffle Garden (PDF) Educational packet from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for grades 3-5
USA
California
Program Tool Kits Community Resources for Science
Oceana
New Zealand
Kaipātiki Stream Care "Kaipātiki Project, in partnership with Freshwater Ecologist, Brett Stansfield from Environmental Impact Assessments Ltd and six local schools, is into our third year of Stream Care Community Science monitoring. The programme comprises children monitoring four stream sites located in four catchments of Kaipātiki. The programme has significantly contributed to our understanding of the ecology and water quality of our awa with data being reported to NZ Water Citizens Database and NZ Freshwater Fish Database."
Habitat in the Eskdale Stream (1:57minute video)
Technology & Biotechnology
Classroom Activities: Teach Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
North America
Canada
EDUKITS (Grades 4-6) (Free rental and shipping) "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
Watersheds, Bodies of Water, Water Cycle, Water Pollution & Water Security
"Water begins from the ocean, and blows towards continents, alighting on forests, grasslands, savannahs, wetlands, travelling over mountains, slithering through organism carved pores in the soil, descending down into underground bedrock, squeezing through roots and hyphae, phase transitioning between vapor, liquid and sometimes ice, until it ends up further inland, hydrating the fauna and flora there. Water hops, sinks, and lifts along the bio-rain corridor." - https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/p/bio-rain-corridor
Click the image or bio-rain-corridor links to learn more about emerging water cycle concepts, or click the Water button to learn more about which activities use the most water (aka disrupt the water cycle the most), the best methods for reducing water use, saving and harvesting water.
The Water page also has more info about the water cycle, water and biology/wildlife, and ways we can help restore ecosystems to help the water cycle recover.
For those doing restoration work or helping urban wildlife we also have a guide on providing water to wildlife.
How Can a Diet Shift Can Save Water? Article and graphs talk about how little of Earth's water is safe of available to drink, and which human activities have the most impact on our water supplies. - Truth Or Drought (their resources include NASA, National Drought Mitigation Center, USGS, International Water Management Institute and more)
Shoreline Cleanup Guide "From plastic straws to coffee lids, everything we throw away ends up somewhere. If it doesn’t make it to a landfill, it will find its way to waterways like rivers, lakes and oceans. It really doesn’t belong there – animals can mistake that junk for food and they can get tangled up in it too. Spend some time this June making a body of water near you a cleaner environment for the animals that live there with your own shoreline cleanup. " - Canadian Wildlife Federation
North America
The Impact of Climate Change on Great Lakes Water Levels (PDF) Grades 9-10 - Global Change
Great Lakes In My World K-12 Curriculum & Free Lesson Plans
Un jardín de forma de wafle Manteniendo la vida del desierto (PDF)
Waffle Gardens: Sustaining Life in the Desert Lesson kit has visual and written information, plus some data collection sheets that can be printed out for students.
Waffle Garden (PDF) Educational packet from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs for grades 3-5
Canada
Habitat in the Balance "An online decision-making program, for Grades 7 to 12, in which the student examines issues from one of three main topic areas: water, inhabitants, and land." (Requires log in to save progress) - SEED's Connections
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Mexico
Isla Urbana "Six out of ten schools in Mexico lack access to clean water. Founded in 2018, Rain Schools is an integral program developed to supply public schools with high quality and abundant water provision by implementing rainwater harvesting systems. In addition to installing the systems, the program implements educational and participatory workshops with teachers, students and parents. These workshops educate and empower the school population to become responsible for maintaining the system and spreading knowledge of a positive water culture, both at school and at home.
With a rainwater harvesting system, a school can capture between 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons) and 1 million liters (264,000 gallons) per year of rainwater, which can cover a school’s needs for 6 to 9 months per year."
USA
Environmental and Climate Science Lesson Plans includes resources from CLEAN, LEGO, and NASA - Community Resources for Science
California
East Bay
Educational Resources Includes teacher and activity guides (K-3), Educational Materials (k-12), out door excursions, science fairs, internships, career pathways and more. - East Bay Municipal Utility District
San Francisco Bay Area
Watershed Education Click the Resources tab for Class materials on watersheds, ocean acidification and resilience. Some examples include "Mapping Your Watershed" (grades 4-12), "Watershed in Your Hand" (greades K-6, 3D watershed map to demonstrate actual water flow), and "Urban Creek Observations" (grades 4-12, Students examine a creek and its surroundings to assess the health of the creek) - The Watershed Project
Santa Clara Valley
Online Resources and Teaching Tools Pre-K to Middle School/High School appropriate - Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program
Maryland
Chesapeake Bay Junior Ranger (PDF) An activity pack to engage kids with puzzles and pictures. - national Park Service
Kids Learn about Our Watershed Anytime with Backyard Bay Savers - Chesapeak Bay Foundation
Resources for Teachers and Students - Chesapeak Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Bay Activity Book PDF - Department of Commerce USA
Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center Grasonville, Maryland - Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Texas
Educational resources for the Galveston Bay Watershed - Houston, TX area included with a finder to help locate your particular watershed within the Galveston Bay watershed, Virtual field trips, and video series, resources aimed at the Middle School and Elementary levels. Info covers topics like the water cycle, storm water impacts, and what animals rely on healthy watersheds.
Take Home Packets
A STEM in the Park - A Take Home Activity: Water Use At Home (PDF) "Pay attention and count how many times a day people in your household do the activities that use water. Enter the number of times in the chart. Multiply the number of times by the amount of water used in gallons. Then add up all of your totals. This is how much water your household uses in a day. Compare your amount with the amount of water an average African family uses each day. What would you cut out if you only had five gallons of water a day?"