Environmental Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (Page 4)

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

If you made a pile of all the electronic devices (cell phones, computers, stereos, televisions, MP3 players, video game systems, remote-control toys, etc.) that your family has gotten rid of since you were a baby, how big would that pile be? Would it be taller than you? Would it fit better in a wheelbarrow or in a pickup truck? And did they just throw it in the trash? In this science project, you'll explore what people in your community do with electronic waste, commonly called e-waste, and… Read more

What To Do About CO₂?

Lesson Plan Grade: 5th-12th

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Where does CO₂ come from and how does excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect the ocean and aquatic life? In this lesson students are introduced to the carbon cycle and explore pH and acidification with hands-on experiments. They then connect their experimental data with real-world data to evaluate claims about carbon dioxide and ocean acidification. Finally, students are introduced to how different companies and research groups are using green chemistry to build carbon capture… Read more

Air Pollution

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Smog days are often posted in your local newspaper. Check how many smog days your city has had in the last year. How does it compare to to other years? You can also take pictures of your city landscape on high and low smog days. How do the pictures compare? How does smog in the atmosphere affect visibility? What is smog made of? You can use tongue depressors smeared with Vaseline to check for smog particles in different areas; just stick in the ground and look at them a few days later. … Read more

Are There Bugs Under Your Feet?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Look out! When you walk on the grass, you are squishing millions of micro-invertebrates! Just kidding, these animals are too small to squish. Learn how to catch them by making a Berlese funnel in this fun project that will teach you about soil. Read more

Are There Dangerous Levels of Lead in Local Soil?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

The element lead is a neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to young children. Among other uses, lead compounds were common paint additives until being phased out for safer titanium-based additives beginning in the 1960's. Lead compounds were also added to gasoline to prevent engine knocking, until being phased out beginning in the 1970's. Although paint and gasoline sold today no longer contain lead, soil can have contamination from older sources of lead, such as paint from old buildings.… Read more

Bug Vacuums: Sucking up Biodiversity

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered what a wildlife biologist does? Ronnie and Denise from DragonflyTV found out firsthand when they worked with a local wildlife biologist to take a survey of the fish populations in their local lake. They wanted to determine what the biodiversity (number of different species in a habitat) was like so that they could find out how healthy the lake habitat was. In this science fair project you can take on the role of a wildlife biologist by examining the biodiversity of… Read more

Can Machine Learning Forecast Future Sea Levels?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Global sea levels are rising, but modeling and predicting them can be challenging with more and more extreme weather events. Can we use machine learning to track and predict sea level changes? In this science project, you will use previously collected data and machine learning to see if you can predict future relative sea level changes. Read more

Crystal Ball Math: Predicting Population Growth with Models

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

When is an animal considered endangered? When will it become extinct? What happens when a population has reached the limits of its resources? What happens to a population when a habitat changes? These are some of the questions population biologists try to answer. They use population models, created from math equations, to predict what will happen to a population over time. If you want to see how modeling is done and make some predictions of your own, you certainly won't need a crystal… Read more

Deforestation

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

The conversion of forested to unforested areas has been occurring since humans began to impact and change their environments during the agricultural revolution. Recently deforestation has become a global problem, particularly for developing industrial countries and countries with very large populations. You can use satellite mapping resources to investigate the connection between urbanization, population growth and deforestation. You can also investigate the connection between deforestation… Read more

Design a Seeding Machine to Counteract Deforestation

Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th

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Forests are the green lung of the Earth and home to millions of different plant, fungi, animal, and bacteria species. Unfortunately, today many forests are threatened by deforestation, which causes significant biodiversity loss. Ongoing reforestation efforts across the world intend to counteract the effects of deforestation. As planting trees by hand does not scale well, machines on the ground, as well as flying drones have been developed to help plant tree seedlings or seeds. In this lesson,… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem.
MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

Environmental Science Projects, Lessons, Activities (89 results)

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