Course: Fundamentals of Sustainability (BS) / Month: October
Human Connections to the Physical & Natural World ~ / The lessons within this unit are designed as both problem-based and project-based learning, reflecting a hands-on, student centered and teacher facilitated approach. In this unit, students will become familiar with the concept of sustainability. Through research and interactive lessons, students will focus on analyzing the everyday habits of their family in order to determine the impact that it has on the Earth. The unit also requires that students use their oral presentation skills to share findings with the class. At the end of the unit, students will have gained the necessary understanding to make sustainable choices in their everyday lives.
Essential Questions / Content / Skills / Assessments / Activities / Standards / Resources/Optional
Why is it important for us to be promoting sustainability throughout the world?
How are our current practices/habits impacting the environment?
What life and/or societal changes are needed to make improvements and promote sustainability? / To identify the chemical and physical properties of the vertical structure of the atmosphere support life on Earth.
To show how natural ecosystems provide an array of basic functions that affect humans. These functions include
maintenance of the quality of the atmosphere, generation of soils, control of the hydrologic cycle, disposal of wastes, and recycling of nutrients.
To explain how natural and human activities impact the cycling of matter and the flow of energy through ecosystems.
To identify the key steps that need to be taken in order to improve sustainable living and our environment.
To identify the changes that need to exist in society in order to foster sustainability through renewable and nonrenewable resources / Use mathematical tools and technology are used to gather, analyze, and communicate results.
Interpret and manipulate evidence-based models to build and critique arguments/explanations.
Use scientific, economic, and other data to assist in assessing environmental risks and benefits associated with societal activity.
Make informed decisions based on their research and understanding of sustainability and/or sustainable practices / Graphical data representations -physical and digital 10/31/2012
Energy source poster -physical or digital 10/31/2012
Powerpoint presentation: Product lifecycle 10/31/2012
Energy Marketing Portfolio 10/31/2012 / Lesson 1: Students will develop a plan for allocating resources without exhaustion and create a digital graph to represent the data.
Lesson 2: Students will construct comprehensive definitions for the words “sustainable” and
“green” by first analyzing how the term is used in different industries
Lesson 3: Students will analyze the impacts of various energy sources and their potential in
the future and create a poster to depict key information about a specific energy source.
Lesson 4: Students will research and create a multimedia presentation on the entire life cycle of a specific consumer product.
Lesson 5: Students investigate areas/points where the life of their product can be extended
Lesson 6: Students use an online program to calculate their carbon footprint. Groups design an
additional Google Doc spreadsheet and collect data from the entire class for one particular area in the calculator program.
Lesson 7: Students develop possible actions to take in order to diminish the causes and effects of climate change.
Lesson 8: Students research a specific alternative energy, including how it works, its
potential uses, prime locations in NJ, and cost-benefit analysis. / 5.1.12.A.2-Develop and use mathematical, physical, and computational tools to build evidence-based models and to pose theories.
5.1.12.B.2-Build, refine, and represent evidence-based models using mathematical, physical, and computational tools.
5.1.12.B.3-Revise predictions and explanations using evidence, and connect explanations/arguments to established scientific knowledge, models, and theories.
5.1.12.D.1-Engage in multiple forms of discussion in order to process, make sense of, and learn from others' ideas, observations, and experiences.
5.1.12.D.2-Represent ideas using literal representations, such as graphs, tables, journals, concept maps, and diagrams.
5.3.12.C.2-Model how natural and human-made changes in the environment will affect individual organisms and the dynamics of populations.
5.4.12.G.2-Explain the unintended consequences of harvesting natural resources from an ecosystem.
5.4.12.G.4-Compare over time the impact of human activity on the cycling of matter and energy through ecosystems.
5.4.12.G.6-Assess (using scientific, economic, and other data) the potential environmental impact of large-scale adoption of emerging technologies (e.g., wind farming, harnessing geothermal energy). /
- Unit PBL Task
- Unit PBL Rubric
- Various Lesson Handouts
- Lesson #1 Student Handout
- Lesson #2 & 3 Student Handout
- Graphing Student Handout
- The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard –
- Google Documents –
- Online Carbon Footprint Calculator:
- PBS NOW Global Warming Lesson Plan –
- PBS NOW Global Warming Lesson Resources –
- New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program –
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Energy Kids –