Materials & Environment

Rationale: According to the California State Science Content Standards, students in grades 3 and 4 begin to formally learn about ecosystems, the life forms in each, and the interrelationships between the environment, plants, and animals. Students also learn about how recycling occurs in nature and about the nonliving components of ecosystems. In 5th grade, the idea of using chemical and physical properties to separate mixtures is introduced. In the 6th grade, students learn about natural energy and material resources and about the energy conversion process. They also learn about the ecology of the food web and how matter is transferred between organisms and the environment. Most of these concepts and ideas have been incorporated into the three lesson plans below.

Disclaimer: Some of the procedures for the activities contained in the lessons have been adapted from various resources listed throughout the module.

Part 1:
Contamination of the Wetlands
Introduces contamination of an ecosystem based on an actual case history

Part 2:
Pollution
Introduces the idea of concentration and uses this idea to explore the extent of pollution

Part 3:
Recycling Polymers
Explains the codes used to recycle polymers and introduces density as a method for separating the various types of polymers

 

 

 

 

This work was supported by the Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies (CPIMA)
as part of the NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center program under Grant DMR 9808677

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