Environmental Science Interactions

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Lionel Interesting Link - Reading Ability at 15 a predictor of success?

This is an interesting link. Not directly related to Environmental Science, but clearly a key if we're going to engage our kids in a manner that encourages them to explore the possibilities a science-based career might offer. I like the focus on high school .... that's long been ignored in favour of support at elementary level.

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Added by Lionel on February 12, 2010 at 2:42pm — No Comments

Fleur Pigeon I have some money to spend - Request for your resource suggestions!

HI Everyone, Just found out I have some money to spend on resources for our new Environment SHSM. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for some must-have resources, either text books, or equipment. So far, I think I'd like to order a class set of hip waders for our stream study. I'd love to hear your other suggestions! Continue

Added by Fleur Pigeon on February 12, 2010 at 1:47am — No Comments

Ken Peck Putting the "e" in Environment

I'm fighting an urge to post something about the whole "climate change" controversy that's raging right now. If I may allow myself a small aside - I'm VERY disappointed when science becomes politics, and I fear we have tipped into climate change having become a political topic. I want climate change to be an unknown, that we study, and observe, and inform regular folks of what is happening to their world. I don't like where this field is now. As science educators, we have a tough battle ahead to… Continue

Added by Ken Peck on February 11, 2010 at 11:45am — 2 Comments

Simin Navabi Air, soil, and water quality tests

This is the first time that I teach SVN3M, and I need help with getting materials for air, soil and water quality tests. Where do you get your materials from and how? Any advice as how to do these experiments? What to do, what not to do, what can go wrong?? your help is greatly appreciated. Continue

Added by Simin Navabi on February 5, 2010 at 12:19pm — 3 Comments

Errol Taggart My final project for SVN 3E

I tried to update the WIKI for the final project section. I uploaded the files but I'm not sure if the page saved properly. The files show up under recent changes. If anyone can fix this, let me know. If it didn't work, I can repost the files again.

I decided to take the Ont. Ed. Resource Bank final culminating activity and I tried to make it more structured. It was a lot of work and revisions need to be done to make it better. Feel free to make comments, suggestions, revisions etc.

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Added by Errol Taggart on February 4, 2010 at 11:00pm — 4 Comments

Ken Peck Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

I admit I'm a sucker for irony and juxtapositions. I like to think of it like F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function". Hey, it gives me something to aim for! Anyway, that brings me to today's news about the Belo Monte dam in Brazil, which the Brazilian government has just approved. Another super-dam, but smaller than the Three Gorges dam in China. However, thi… Continue

Added by Ken Peck on February 2, 2010 at 11:47am — 1 Comment

Stewart Grant Earth in Mind

I was reading a couple essays from David Orr's book Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect in preparation for a workshop on Environmental Education and found the following passages, quoted from Madav Gadril and Ramachandra Guha's book This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India, to be insightful: "hunter-gatherers live in the forest, agriculturalists live adjacent to but within striking distance of the forest, and urban-industrial men… Continue

Added by Stewart Grant on February 1, 2010 at 4:30pm — 2 Comments

Ken Peck Methane Causes Vicious Cycle In Global Warming

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122638800&ft=1&f=1025 Methane's complicated role in global warming. By the way, if you don't already use the NPR website (http://www.npr.org/), check it out. It is one of the few collections of "unbiased" daily news you have easy access to. A friend even uses the… Continue

Added by Ken Peck on January 29, 2010 at 10:08am — No Comments

Ken Peck Global warming? Then why is it so cold today!

I was speaking to someone in my family the other day, and he managed to slip in a dig that he knows gets to me. It was very cold where he lives, and his comment was, as you can probably guess by now, "I wonder what happened to that global warming they keep talking about in the news? We could sure some of that right about now!" If he had a computer (!), I'd send him a link to watch this video: It's so Cold, there can't be Global Warming… Continue

Added by Ken Peck on January 20, 2010 at 9:06am — 1 Comment

Ken Peck Green music?

It may be a relatively light topic, but many students may be interested in researching how environmentally-friendly their favourite musicians, venues, or music festivals are. Projects could include something as simple as a PowerPoint with a bands songs and relevant photos, to complex endeavours like staging their own local shows or festivals. 15 Green Musicians and Bands http://www.grist.org/article/musicians 10 Mus… Continue

Added by Ken Peck on January 20, 2010 at 8:52am — No Comments

Errol Taggart Plan It Green videogame by National Geographic

I bought this game at Staples just before Christmas for $10. It might be appropriate for 3E possibly as a reward type project. I haven't played it yet, but it looks pretty neat. Check out the link. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/plan-it-green/ Errol Continue

Added by Errol Taggart on December 28, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Sandra Orr Exam or not Exam??

Well with exams fast approaching, I am having many people ask me what I am going to do for an exam for this course. I have never done a written exam in the four times that I have run this course and feel that this is the best way to ensure success for the students. There have only been two failures out of approximately 80 students with the approach that I have taken. In place of a final exam, I will be running an action research project with the class. We just started last week. I love this appr… Continue

Added by Sandra Orr on December 24, 2009 at 2:22pm — 5 Comments

Jimmy at Edvantage IMBY: An SVN3E Energy Activity, Part One.

I just read a cracking tweet on this SVN3E subject area. It could cover some of the work in Unit 4: Using Energy in Our Lives, but combined with some other resources and investigation (some of which could be done by students themselves) it could also tie in with many other SVN3E topics.

IMBY is an acronym for ‘In My Back Yard’, and in case you were unaware, that’s a pun on NIMBY or ‘Not In My Back Yard’,… Continue

Added by Jimmy at Edvantage on December 20, 2009 at 12:30am — No Comments

Theresa Lukas Culminating Activity

Other than a final exam, does anyone have any ideas on a final culminating activity? Continue

Added by Theresa Lukas on December 13, 2009 at 11:07am — 1 Comment

Jimmy at Edvantage Real VS Fake: which are you?



We always buy a real Christmas tree. Why? It smells better, it looks better, it feels better. We love everything about it, from the Clark Griswald moment (see video) to the cleaning up of the pine needles into the following September. But until now, we hadn't given much thought to the environmental side of the ritual. Are real trees bad for the environment? It does involve cutting down trees, after all. Isn’t that deforestation? No! I refuse to give up my sacred Balsa… Continue

Added by Jimmy at Edvantage on December 4, 2009 at 12:33pm — 3 Comments

Sandra Orr Project Based Learning Poses a Problem When Absent

Having been away from school for two days in a row due to illness posed a major problem for me. I feel that this course lends itself well to project based learning and in doing so, students are very successful. However, I struggled greatly with material to provide a substitute teacher. We were in the midst of conducting weekly chemical analysis of water, reviewing/learning microscopy skills, and beginning construction on biofilters. Material that had to be left was not nearly as exciting and kno… Continue

Added by Sandra Orr on November 3, 2009 at 10:18pm — 1 Comment

Jimmy at Edvantage The World Without Us

You may already be familiar with the Alan Weisman book 'The World Without Us'. I tweeted a link on the subject a few weeks back.


There are quite a few interesting resources out there, so I thought I'd collect some of them together here.

In case you're unfamiliar, Weisman's book asks the question '… Continue

Added by Jimmy at Edvantage on November 3, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Sandra Orr Canadian Farming and Food

I found a great link from the OFAC (Ontario Farm Animal Council) and thought it would be good to share. The site offers virtual farm tours on just about any farm type offered in Canada. There are photos, fun facts, and many video links that offer insight into the farming industry. The site is great because it gives a great snapshot about how forms run since it can get costly to take field trips especially since in most cases, dealing with an at-risk student means that money is limited on their p… Continue

Added by Sandra Orr on October 26, 2009 at 3:24pm — No Comments

Errol Taggart New Project - Invasive Species

Just wanted to blog that I uploaded a new project on invasive species in the WIKI. If anyone wants to add comments or ideas, I welcome them. It is located in Chapter 2.4. Enjoy, Errol Continue

Added by Errol Taggart on October 20, 2009 at 10:10pm — No Comments

Errol Taggart Does anyone have a day by day unit outline for SVN 3E?

Hi guys... I'm finding that I'm struggling a lot day by day to come up with a logical plan of what to do with my SVN 3E class. My class is small but I have a high absent rate within any given week. For me, I've found it very difficult to move as a group from one topic to the next. Therefore, I have students all over the place doing different projects, worksheets and so on. Some of my students are excellent in getting work done and are looking for more, while others are so far behind. So, does… Continue

Added by Errol Taggart on October 13, 2009 at 9:37pm — 5 Comments

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In the news...

Nitrogen Deposition Limits Climate Change Impacts On Carbon Sequestration

Scientists debate environmental impact of reactive nitrogen. Full story

Does Ozone Treaty Hold Key Climate Change?

How the existing Montreal Protocol ozone treaty could be used to phase out "super' greenhouse gases. Full story...

Greenest School in Canada

Windsor, Ontario's brand new Dr. David Suzuki Elementary School will become Canada's greenest school when it opens in September...read the full story

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Searching the Site

In case you are unaware, it is possible to search both Environmental Science Interactions, and the Environmental Science Interactions wiki, by typing key words related to your search into the search boxes provided.

For searching the entire Environmental Science Interactions site: go to the very top right of the page, where it says 'search social network'

For searching the Environmental Science Interactions wiki: the search box is in the sidebar top left of the page.

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Created by Jimmy at Edvantage Nov 3, 2009 at 12:39pm. Last updated by Jimmy at Edvantage Nov. 3, 2009.

View vids in class without Youtube!

If your schoolboard restricts access to certain websites, like Youtube, you can download Youtube and other videos to your computer @ http://keepvid.com/, and then play them in class on your lap top or school computer.

 

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Created by Jimmy at Edvantage Sep 11, 2009 at 12:23am. Last updated by Jimmy at Edvantage Sep. 11, 2009.

Embed Video

In case you are having trouble posting videos, here are a few tips.

To post a video in the Video library...

Simply click the 'video' tab at the top of the page. Click 'add a video'.

a) If you'd like to upload a video from your computer, just click on the blue box, select the right file from your computer, and upload.

b) If you'd like to post a video that is posted online (eg Youtube), you should scroll to down below the blue box.

Click on 'e

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Created by Jimmy at Edvantage Jul 20, 2009 at 3:13pm. Last updated by Jimmy at Edvantage Jul. 20, 2009.

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