|
|
|
|
Content Area: Social Studies
Index: 6.6E Grade 12 CPI 1
Standard: 6.6 - Geography
Strand: E - Environment and Society
Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 - The student will discuss the global impacts of human modification of the physical environment (e.g., the built environment).
Grade: 12
Sample Activities:
· Economic decisions regarding the environment frequently require governments and individuals to make judgments about the relative value and worth of living and/or nonliving things. These decisions can involve a judgment about the relationship of monetary value to worth in terms of possible or theoretical effects on the environment. Students work in the library to find information using local newspaper files concerning a plant closing in or near the community. What happened? How many people were affected? If possible, students interview individuals who were laid off from the plant. Working in small groups, students report on different issues related to such an economic event. Alternatively, they investigate a typical business failure, such as the closing of a local variety store when a superstore such as WalMart or K-Mart opens in the area. Students assess the net effect on the community. They make judgments about the effects and discuss as a group their findings and judgments about these phenomena.
· Students write about what makes a spotted owl or a CD or a car valuable. Is it something intrinsic to the owl or CD? They learn that much of a product’s economic value is based upon the conditions of supply and demand for that product, especially on the personal value or utility of that item to people. However, in the case of the owl (which has no direct price), it still may have value. This is important because students begin to speculate on issues of value in general. As Richard Peters (1970) wrote, “A liberal education, to start with, is one that stresses pursuit of what is worthwhile for what is intrinsic to it.”
· These activities focus on judging economic and noneconomic value as such judgments apply to today’s environmental debates. First, ask students to define value (including economic and other kinds of value). Students list all the things that are valuable to them. Ask them to prioritize the valued items. They will recognize that some things are valuable in price, while others are valuable in personal significance. Next, students investigate the relationship between supply and demand by constructing supply-and-demand curves for the products of value they have listed. How does supply-and-demand analysis apply to the spotted owl? Challenge students to develop a model for deciding on the use of a forest for wood products or as a home for the spotted owl? Are trade-offs possible?
· With the help of the library media specialist, students do library research to find instances of government policy that may have privileged intrinsic value over economic value especially regarding the environment. A good example would be the proposed development of the New Jersey Pinelands (Pine Barrens). Why has the state government set limits on its development? Students research this question and develop their own positions.
· Students do an audit of energy use in their own homes as a homework assignment. Using a form prepared by the teacher, which provides a listing of average energy use for typical home appliances, or secured from a local utility, they determine the amount of energy so used by appliances on a daily basis. They learn that certain appliances (e.g. space heaters, toasters) use a lot of energy in relation to their value to the user.
· Students research issues of local concern which affect the community and which involve a connection between environmental and social issues. The task is to search newspapers and magazines in the library to find stories about energy use, problems with air pollution, water purity and/or consumption, and many others. Each student is tasked to find a sustainability issued in this way. Students identify instances of growth which is not sustainable because of failure to consider consequences of actions taken. They review movies such as A Civil Action and Erin Brockovitch for relevant instances.
· One group of students researches the various types of natural environmental change occurring throughout history. Another group investigates the effects of various human activities on the planet. For example, this second group investigates the origin of the Sahara desert in the wasteful farming practices of ancient civilizations or the denudation of farm-land in Mexico caused by the introduction of sheep into that country by the Conquistadors. (There are many such investigations that the students will find interesting.) Ask the library media specialist to review atlas- and map-reading skills with the class and discuss strategies for finding information in the library media center and elsewhere in the school and community.
Inspiration Template:
· Policy |
|
