Modules
Stand-alone Activities
Teambuilding
Resources: 5 Stages of Group Development | Team Building Quotes
- Build a Cubic Meter Box
- Toxic Popcorn Activity
- Paper Tower Activity (pdf)
- Water, Water Everywhere (pdf)
Hydroville Activities
Pesticide Spill (PS) | Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) | Water Quality (WQ) | Mysterious Illness Outbreak
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Keywords |
Description |
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Using Paper Chromatography – Word | PDF Students use paper chromatography to separate ink molecules and identify the pen used on an unknown sample of handwriting. Students graph and analyze data they collect using paper chromatography. |
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Siting Yoretown’s Landfill – Word | PDF Students use a city map, topographic map, and siting criteria to rank four sites for a city landfill. |
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Building Walkthrough – Word | PDF Students conduct a classroom walkthrough following a checklist from EPA Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools (TfS) Program. If possible, they accompany a custodian or district facilities manager on a walkthrough of their school. |
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Name That IAQ Hazard – Word | PDF In this activity, students are introduced to a variety of common indoor air quality hazards by playing a game. They will learn sources of hazards, route(s) of exposure, associated health symptoms, and methods for hazard control. Game Key, Game Sheet, Game Cards After playing the game, the students may be ready to do a home walk-through – Checklist |
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How Contaminants Move in Water – Word | PDF Students learn about environmental sampling and monitoring. They perform an investigation of a small-scale groundwater contamination problem. |
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Reading Water Quality Reports – Word | PDF This activity introduces students to drinking water standards, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and terminology found in a typical annual water quality report. Students read their own community’s water report and find specific information through a scavenger hunt. |
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What’s in Your Drinking Water? – Word | PDF This activity introduces students to a spectrum of common water quality hazards, as well as sources of hazards, route(s) of exposure, associated health symptoms, and methods for hazard control. |
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Groundwater Tutorial Video and Worksheet (on page BA 8-23) The video is approximately 20 minutes long and covers an aquifer system, groundwater movement, contaminant plumes, and groundwater protection. A student worksheet is included. You can request a DVD copy (email: hcp@oregonstate.edu). Part 1 is on YouTube. |
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John Snow & the Cholera Epidemic – Word | PDF Students will learn the essential steps in an epidemiology investigation by studying John Snow’s classic investigation of the cholera epidemic in London in 1854. |
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How Did I Get Sick? – Word | PDF Students will learn about general factors associated with illness and how to determine the cause of an illness based on signs, symptoms, and diagnostic tests. |
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CDC Data Investigation – Word | PDF Students use spreadsheets and the Internet to retrieve information about regional and national health data and to organize and analyze that data. |
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Dose/Response Experiments Using Lettuce Seeds – Word | PDF Students conduct dose-response experiments in which they test the response of lettuce seeds to varying concentrations of salt (NaCl). They will measure the toxic effects of salt on plant growth by measuring two end points: seed germination and root growth. |
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What Makes a Product Hazardous? Reading Household Product Labels Word | PDF Students read labels from household products to recognize signal words and understand the basis for what makes these products hazardous. By taking an inventory of hazardous household products in their home, garage, or utility area, students identify and chart the products and write a brief report on their findings to an adult decision-maker in their household. (This activity encompasses both language arts and science, and may be implemented in either classroom.) |
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Surface Sampling – “Is My Cleaning Service Worth the Money?” Word | PDF Students will learn how to conduct environmental sampling procedures on surfaces, develop a sampling strategy, and follow an established lab protocol. |
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Enzymes and the Nervous System – Word | PDF In the first part of the activity, students use iodine and Benedict’s solution as color indicators to detect enzyme activity, specifically, the ability of the enzyme amylase, found in human saliva, to break down starch into sugar. Students will then develop their own diagnostic protocols to test for enzyme activity in starch samples. In the second part, they study the nervous system to see how enzymes are key to nerve cell transmission. |
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Investigation of an Outbreak – Word | PDF In this activity students will analyze the data of an outbreak of gastroenteritis that occurred in southern Oregon in 1993. They will follow steps used by epidemiologists to determine whether there is an outbreak and the cause of the outbreak. |
| OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ACTIVITIES FROM OSU | |
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Chemical Conundrum (PDF) Students explore different methods of separating out a complex mixture, and explore the difference between mass and weight. Incorporating M & Ms makes it fun for the students while they learn about physical and chemical properties of matter. Grades 6-8 |
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Data Points (PDF) Data generated during scientific experiments is commonly and effectively represented in the form of a graph or figure. In this exercise students explore how to convert data to graphs and figures. Grades 6-8 |
