Project TELL Unit/Lesson Plans
 

Unit title*	What's your pH?  Investigating water quality / interaction of human activities with the hydrosphere
Subject area*	Environmental Science
Secondary subject	Technology
Grade*	High School
Duration/time*	Three ninety minute blocks or six one hour class periods
Overview*	The students will use a pH probe/CBL to investigate the effects of pollutants on water samples.  The students will compare and contrast water quality data between sampling sites and develop reasonable hypotheses to account for their differences.  Students will develop a PowerPoint project concerning the impact of human activities on the atmosphere and the ways that individuals and society can reduce pollution.
Technology overview* click on level for description	Level 1: Students will access information.  Students will identify resources related to specific science benchmarks.  Level 2: Students will collect data for research. Students will model the same processes and methods that science professionals use, including the effective use of database programs.  Students will model the role of scientist by collecting data as a team, entering this data into their own database, and using the database for analysis. Level 3: Students will analyze information. Students  will enter, manipulate, and display data.  The students and teachers will use this software to analyze and display the data they have  collected  in their research projects. Level 4: Students will synthesize and communicate information. Students will use advanced computer hardware and software systems to create innovative multi-media presentations that will deliver clear and meaningful information.  Students will generate presentations including digital video, computer graphics, digital maps, scanned photographs and digitized oral history interviews.  Output products will be hard copy publications, computerized "slide show" diskettes, and video VCR tapes.
Focus questions*	How do human activities affect the quality of water in the hydrosphere?  (SCI.V.2.HS.2) What is the effect of dissolved CO2 on the pH of distilled water? What is the effect on ph of dissolving H2SO4 in various waters? Why are some bodies of water more vulnerable to acid rain than others?
Content standards and benchmarks* (Mastery)	SCI.II.1.HS.3    Show how common themes of science, mathematics, and technology apply in real-world contexts. SCI.III.5.HS.4    Describe responses of an ecosystem to events that cause it to change. SCI.V.2.HS.2    Describe how human activities affect the quality of water in the hydrosphere. SCI.V.3.HS.4    Explain the impact of human activities on the atmosphere and explain ways that individuals and society can reduce pollution. SCI.III.5.HS.4    Describe responses of an ecosystem to events that cause it to change.
Content standards and benchmarks* (Secondary)	SCI.I.1.HS.1    Ask questions that can be investigated empirically. SCI.I.1.HS.2    Design and conduct scientific investigations. SCI.I.1.HS.3    Recognize and explain the limitations of measuring devices. SCI.I.1.HS.4    Gather and synthesize information from books and other sources of information. SCI.I.1.HS.5    Discuss topics in groups by making clear presentations, restating or summarizing what others have said, asking for clarification or elaboration, and taking alternative perspectives and defending a position. SCI.II.1.HS.2    Describe some general limitations of scientific knowledge. SCI.II.1.HS.1    Justify plans or explanations on a theoretical or empirical basis. SCI.III.2.HS.2    Describe the life cycle of an organism associated with human disease. SCI.III.5.HS.6    Explain the effects of agriculture and urban development on selected ecosystems.  SCI.V.2.HS.1    Identify and describe regional watersheds. SCI.V.2.HS.2    Describe how human activities affect the quality of water in the hydrosphere. SCI.V.3.HS.4    Explain the impact of human activities on the atmosphere and explain ways that individuals and society can reduce pollution.
Technology standards and benchmarks* (Mastery)	TI.2.HS.1    Represent ideas using a combination of technologies aimed at reaching a diverse audience (voice, data, video, graphics, etc).
Technology standards and benchmarks* (Secondary)	T1.5.HS.6      All students will evaluate the societal and environmental impacts of technology and forecast alternative uses and possible consequences to make informed civic, social, and economic decisions.
Resources*	I have an Outside Reading Form that students fill out when they do outside reading.  This form is generally used for bonus points.  Occasionally, I assign website reading as homework and give a quiz.  The following links can be used either way. Biomagnification: a web site that provides a detailed description of the effects of water pollution in the Great Lakes.   Skeeters:  information on mosquitos along with diagrams of mosquito anatomy.   Skeeter Bytes:  University of Wisconsin site full of photographs and diagrams that explores the science of mosquitos and the spread of disease.   Health Info:  information regarding the relationship between acid rain and health.   Watersheds:  a service to help you locate, use and share environmental information about your state and watershed.   Of Cabbages & Chemistry:  a program for middle school students where students discover acids and bases by conducting experiments with red cabbage juice.   Sites Visited:  related links recommended by the Michigan Teacher Network.
Lesson Plan(s)*	Acid Rain Lesson Acid Rain Lab Directions Acid Rain Teacher Info PP Storyboard  Students print off this template for planning their power point presentation about acid rain. Text Correlations  These related text excerpts from Prentice Hall are assigned reading.  Students are expected to read these as we progress through the unit and are responsible for the content.
Example student materials	Acid Rain by Chris pH Testing by Sunni pH Indicators by Lindsay Acid-Base Indicators byTasha
Assessment*	HS Assessment Example 1 HS Assessment Example 2 PowerPoint Assessment Rubric Bio Project Rubric pH Rubric
Reflection	This lesson is just one example of the many environmental issues we have had students investigate over the years at our school.  We choose a topic each year based on current events.  In presidential election years, the topic reflects something on a politician's political agenda, and students study the topic as a political issue in government classes while they study it as an environmental issue in science classes.  Our area has ground water problems because the bedrock is not deep, and students have studied that as a community issue.  Some years, instead of making power points to communicate findings, students make posters to put around the school.
Home activities	Here are some web sites with ideas about other pH activities students and families can do at home: Try some simple pH experiments at Miami Museum of Science-The pH Factor.   Surf Your Watershed lets you locate, use and share environmental information about your watershed
Credits	Patt Schwartz, Big Bay de Noc Schools, HC 01 Box 62, Cooks, MI   49817        pschwartz@dsisd.k12.mi.us