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Students utilize design tools (e.g. online drafting tools) to assess their campus’s capacity and need for solar energy. Students will design a solar master plan to present to their district’s energy management team. For schools that already have solar photovoltaic energy, students can create a master plan for another building or campus in their community.

Students will use solar panels, fans, light bulbs, and buzzers to create circuits. Students will analyze their communities use of solar and make suggestions for added solar energy usage.

Students will plan and investigate energy vampires using an Energy Monitor to measure the energy consumption of different electrical devices. Students will collect and chart the data from their investigation and calculate how much money could be saved by unplugging energy vampires.

Students will discuss the value of electrical energy in their everyday lives. Using a power plant diagram and web-based sources, students will analyze steps to the electrical generation process and research information on renewable (alternative) energy sources.

When our planet thrives, it’s because species and habitats interact to contribute to healthy, functioning ecosystems within the biomes where they exist. Students will learn about the interdependence between species and their habitats, and about the current threats facing our planet’s biodiversity, by participating in a role-playing activity that demonstrates how we’re all connected.

In a mosaic, individual pieces are combined in order to reveal the bigger picture. Similarly, in order for nature to be able to support and provide for our ever growing world, we need all the components that comprise its foundation—biodiversity—to be strong and healthy. To represent a similar collective effort, students will design individual squares that reflect what biodiversity means to them and then assemble all the squares in a mosaic to raise awareness about the bigger picture: the importance of protecting biodiversity.

The recent biodiversity assessments conducted by WWF and other contributing organizations revealed a 60% decline in populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptile species in the past 40 years. More than 1 million species are now threatened with extinction, and that number will only increase if we don’t change course now. In this activity, students will plot species population data and use observed trends to determine the probability of those species’ survival.

Using statistics from the Biodiversity Educator’s Resource Guide, students will deliver a mock newscast, informing audiences of the current state of our planet and the urgent need for individual as well as collective action. Students will conduct research on the decline of biodiversity, and on how attention-getting communication techniques can help shape their delivery of the information. Like any good news report, the presentation should reflect on why this news is important and how the viewers can get involved. Students will become advocates for restoring nature and biodiversity by using effective communication skills to spread a message among their peers.

Students will learn the difference between climate change in the past versus the change we see today using science-based evidence. They will explore examples of how human activities have majorly impacted the Earth and contributed to this change, understand the consequences of this change, and learn actions they can take in their everyday lives to help decrease the negative impact humans have on the environment.