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Welcome to the Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

Here, you can find free sustainability lessons to use in your class and upload your own lessons to share. Be sure to rate the lessons you use and leave comments for your colleagues!

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Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

Can We Keep the Lake Clean?

Lesson Description:

This lesson introduces students to the water cycle by having them help draw a picture of a lake ecosystem, adding human impacts that affect water quality. Students will help fill in the components of a drawing of a water system. They will conclude by creating their own illustrations of human-induced changes to the freshwater habitat of a lake ecosystem.

Students will:
  • Help draw a picture of a lake ecosystem.
  • Discuss the water cycle and the reasons why lakes are important.
  • Describe how humans can impact the water cycle.
  • Draw pictures illustrating a scenario involving human-induced changes to a lake ecosystem.

Lesson Type:
  • Project

Sustainability Topic:
  • Ecosystems
  • Water

GEF Program Category:
  • Sustainable Water Challenge
  • Waste Reduction Challenge

Time Needed:
One to two hours
Standards Addressed:
Connections to the national geography standards:
Standard 14: "How human actions modify the physical environment"
Materials Needed:
  • Computer with internet access
  • Blackboard or whiteboard
  • Colored chalk (or erasable markers if you are using a whiteboard)

School or Group:
National Geographic
Contact Email:
service@greeneducationfoundation.org
Notes:
Http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/14/gk2/clean.html
Located in: Social Studies

The Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse is brought to you in partnership with

Center for Green Schools