Students describe their favorite meal and ask questions about a world population graph. Then, to connect these two topics, students trace the impact of a hamburger on water, land, air and energy resources. They calculate the number of gallons of gasoline needed to get ingredients to their city and analyze the impact an increasing population will have on Earth’s natural resources. Finally, students design a menu that lessens the impact on natural resources.

Students generate questions about graphs of Earth’s average surface temperature and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Then, they build models of atmospheres on Earth, Mars and Venus and determine how atmosphere impacts climate. Finally, students find answers to one climate question and look for all of the positive things happening in their homes, schools and communities to combat climate change. Students then share their positive findings in an original collage!

Students determine which natural resource is most important to them, analyze evidence to determine why energy resources are renewable or nonrenewable and then build a model of groundwater to determine the effects of pollution. Then, they create a public service announcement to help protect the resource most important to them. Finally, students debate both the pros and cons of using nuclear energy!