This Land is Your Land

Human Use of Resources—This Land is Your Land

Summary: The classroom-based This Land is Your Land lesson plan from TeachEngineering.org is designed for 4th grade students, with scaling suggestions for 3rd and 5th graders. Because the instructor uses maps of the local area, the activity is place-based, relevant and supports potential field experiences.

“In this activity, students will review and evaluate the ways land is covered and used in their local community. They will also consider the environmental effects of the different types of land use. Students will act as community planning engineers to determine where to place a new structure that will have the least affect on the environment.”

Concepts to teach: Maps, land use, calculating percentage

Goals: Land is used for a variety of human activities, and these uses can be communicated through maps.

Standards:
S6.3S.1, S7.3S.1, S8.3S.1,
SS08.GE.02, SS.08.GE.07, SS.08.GE.08

Specific Objectives:

  1. Understand and identify the different ways that land is covered and used.
  2. Predict land usage amounts in their community.
  3. Describe the involvement of engineers in community planning.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • This Land is Your Land
    • From TeachEngineering.org, a digital library collection of searchable, standards-based K-12 curricula
    • This lesson plan includes worksheets, standards, and suggestions for assessments. The instructor needs to find land use maps of the local area.
  • To find maps of your local area, contact your local:
    • City Planning Department
    • School District (keyword search: facility plan)
    • Historical Society
  • Use both current and historical maps to show how human use of resources have changed over time.
    • Oregon Coast Quests
      • Yaquina Head Tale of Two Hills Quest—This self-guided place-based activity located in Newport tells the story of land use changes at Yaquina Head over 100 years. Featured human impacts include burning, livestock grazing, rock quarrying, golfing, residential development, and modern electrical towers.
      • Make a Quest or other interpretive guide that features the human impacts that students have identified in their local field site.
  • After mapping, discuss the effects of various types of land use might have on the nearby streams and other waterways. This concept will be further in the Human Impact section.

Assessment:

  • Suggestions for pre-activity, activity embedded and post-activity assessments are included in the lesson plan.
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Field Trip Sites

Place—Field Trip Sites

Summary: Planning a field trip to learn about the Oregon coast? Connect students with your field trip destination prior to your visit, to better prepare them for the experience and to reduce some of the novelty that could inhibit effective use of time while on site.

Concepts to teach: Preparation Phase, spatial location of field trip site, watershed, use of equipment

Goals: It will be clear to the students where they are going on their field trip, what they can expect to see and do there, and what behaviors and actions will be expected of them.

Standards:
SS.08.GE.01

Specific Objectives:

  1. Locate the field trip destination on a map and connect it with the school through both a land and water route.
  2. Preview features of the field trip site through the institution’s website, video, and/or personal contact with staff.
  3. Practice using skills and new equipment at a familiar site prior to the trip.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • B-WET Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences: BWET MWEEs—This document outlines the importance of Preparation, Action, and Reflection phases for experiential learning.
    • Connect your local field experiences with distant trips to the coast. Compare and contrast field sites through data collection, journaling, or other activities.
  • OCEP Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences: OCEP MWEEs—Steps 3, 4, and 5 of this document describes some specific goals for the Preparation phase of field experiences.
  • Research Based Field Trip Challenges and Recommendations
  • The following is a list of OCEP partner institutions, most of which offer educational programming for K-12 classes on field trips. Contact the institutions directly to set up a field trip and to access pre-visit materials. Some OCEP institutions may be able to provide a web-based meeting between their staff and your classroom prior to your visit. View a map with the location of all the OCEP institutions.

Assessment:

  • Discuss with students what they know and how they feel about the field trip site, and address misconceptions and concerns.
  • Use field equipment properly to collect reliable data in a familiar environment.
  • Generate a list of equipment, protocol for collecting data and/or driving directions to the field site
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Mapping the Connection

Place—Mapping the Connection

Summary: This focus area begins with the recognition that the ability to read and understand maps is essential to place-based learning, and can help students construct ideas about the relationship between where they live and the ocean. Students practice reading different kinds of maps, and they use maps to find out how their school is physically connected to the ocean through natural and human-made geographic features.

Concepts to teach: What maps show, map symbols, scale, cardinal directions, watersheds

Goals: Students locate their position within a watershed and determine how they are physically connected to the ocean. They understand the spatial concepts of location, distance, scale, movement and region, and use maps and other tools to acquire, process and report information from a spatial perspective.

Standards:
SS.08.GE.01, SS.08.GE.02

Specific Objectives:

  1. Use maps to find distant and local landmarks.
  2. Define a watershed and identify the watershed in which the school belongs.
  3. Trace both a land and water connection between school and the ocean.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Introduction to Maps—In this classroom activity from NESTA, students learn or review basic map elements and types of maps, and identify how different maps are useful for different purposes.
  • Mapping the Classroom—Page 26 from Princeton University’s A Teacher’s Guide to the Universe
    curriculum. Students explore the concept of varying map scales by constructing a scale model of the classroom. If desired, this activity can easily be modified to apply to a small outdoor area rather than a classroom space.
  • Google Earth hunt—Instructor creates a scavenger hunt of relevant locations that can be found on Google Earth. Students virtually “fly” from site to site collecting place-based information.
    • Extension: Have students create their own hunts and then test each others’ creations.
  • For maps of your watershed, contact your local watershed organization. Search OWEB for watershed councils in Oregon.
  • Real-time streamflow data is available on the USGS WaterWatch website
  • Online source for visualizing different kinds of Oregon maps

Assessment:

  • Use or develop formative assessment probes to gauge student understanding about the water cycle. The following probes from Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, vol. 4 could be applied or modified (to obtain Uncovering Student Ideas in Science publications or access sample chapters, visit the NSTA website):
    • Where Would it Fall?—gets students to think about how much of the planet is covered by the ocean.
  • Probe: Connections to the Ocean—explores student ideas about connections between Oregon communities and the ocean.
  • Have students use a map and written instructions to describe a driving route from school to the ocean.
  • Have students use a map and written instructions to describe a water route that connects a nearby stream to the ocean.
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Citizen Biomonitoring

Stewardship—Citizen Biomonitoring

Summary: Students contribute to the scientific understanding of a local ecosystem by collecting water quality data and reporting results to the community.

Concepts to teach: Stewardship, action, water quality, process of scientific inquiry

Goals: Students engage in scientific inquiry and come to see themselves as scientists as they collect and report data about a local outdoor site.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Adopt a local outdoor site and collect data that describes the health of the ecosystem.
  2. Gain experience with the use of scientific equipment, data collection and reporting.
  3. Draw conclusions and recommendations about the health of the ecosystem based on biomonitoring activities.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • StreamWebs—This student stewardship network from OSU Extension provides open-source, web-based tools for watershed data management, analysis, and networking for teachers and students. Includes data sheets for mapping water quality, turbidity, canopy cover, pebble counts, etc. Use the provided data sheets and protocols to determine the extent to which changes on land may be affecting water quality. Compare data within a stream, and to other student studies posted on the StreamWebs website. Examples include:
    • Water Quality Data—Measure and compare temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity.
    • Canopy Cover Data—Relate canopy cover to nearby activity on land and water temperature, and determine whether the area is suitable for salmonids.
  • National Geographic Field Scope—A web-based mapping, analysis and collaboration tool supporting student citizen scientists.
  • Student Watershed Research Project (SWRP)—Based at Portland State University, SWRP provides teacher training, protocols and data sheets for stream analysis.
  • Collect and report invasive species information to school administrators, land managers, city officials, and through invasive species reporting websites.

Assessment:

  • Use the open-ended Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) to assess student attitudes about what scientists look like, and to determine the extent to which they see themselves as scientists.  Scoring rubric example: DAST Rating Rubric
  • Compare pre- and post- pictures to determine whether students see themselves as scientists, and whether their concept of what “doing science” has expanded to include a wider variety of participants.
  • Use collected water quality data to determine whether a given body of water is an appropriate habitat for salmonids (or other species).
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Landscaping Projects

Stewardship—Landscaping Projects

Summary: In the previous topic guides, students learned about the human impacts affecting land and water ecosystems. In this topic guide, students take action to improve or restore a local area to improve the health of the ecosystem.

Concepts to teach: Ecosystem, habitat, stewardship, sustainability, invasive species, erosion

Goals: Students plan improvements to a local outdoor area that will improve the health of the ecosystem by reducing erosion, turbidity, water waste, the spread of invasive species, or other similar impacts. Students carry out the project and plan for its sustainability over time.

Standards:
H.4D.1, H4D.4

Specific Objectives:

  1. Work with school and/or local officials to identify a restoration/enhancement project that will improve the health of the ecosystem.
  2. Devise a budget and work plan for the activity.
  3. Assess and report impacts from the project to the community.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Identify a local restoration/enhancement project and describe how its implementation will improve the health of the ecosystem.
  • Present a budget and work plan for the restoration/enhancement project.
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Invasive Species Impacts

Human Impacts—Invasive Species Impacts

Summary: The Oregon Sea Grant Extension WISE Program (Watershed and Invasive Species Education) provides teacher resources for teaching about invasive species in Oregon. WISE teachers have created, tested and posted their lesson plans online, and we highlight some of those projects in this focus area.

Concepts to teach: Invasive species

Goals: Students learn to recognize examples of aquatic invasive species and understand the impact these invaders have on the health of the environment.

Standards:
H.2L.2

Specific Objectives:

  1. Identify several invasive species in the local community.
  2. Explain the ecological and financial impact invasive species have in Oregon.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Use or develop formative assessment probes to gauge student understanding about the water cycle. The following probes from Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, vol. 2 could be applied or modified (to obtain Uncovering Student Ideas in Science publications or access sample chapters, visit the NSTA website):
    • Habitat Change—explores student understanding of how animal populations are affected when habitats are changed. Consider modifying this instrument to address student understanding of how competition from invasive species can affect native populations.
  • Example of assessment questions prior to a field trip: Field Trip Preassessment
  • Research and describe the impact an invasive species has on the local environment.
  • Search for examples of student work samples on the right side of the Invasive Species 101 website.
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Effects of Erosion

Human Impacts—Effects of Erosion

Summary: Students explore their schoolyard or other local site to determine how human activity may have impacts on animal habitats, animal populations, and/or plant populations.

Concepts to teach: Habitat, adaptation, erosion, impervious surfaces, invasive species, turbidity

Goals: Students will apply their knowledge about land use to their local outdoor site, and assess the impact of human land use and erosion on native species.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Locate an example of erosion at a local outdoor site.
  2. Identify human impacts that may contribute to erosion.
  3. Determine the potential impacts of erosion on water quality.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • The Streams Project from Vermont has lesson plans in which students use Google Earth or ArcMap software.
    • Erosion Potential—Students will look at the causes and effects of erosion on water quality. They will be able to pinpoint areas that present a hazard to the watersheds where their school’s stream sites are located.
  • Erosion Inquiry—Students conduct a simple experiment that explores the types of conditions under which erosion occurs in the school yard.
  • How Do Trees Affect Erosion?
    • This lesson plan from soundsalmonsolutions.org outlines the classroom experiment and includes a worksheet and answer key.
    • Have high school students teach this lesson to younger students. Lincoln County teachers in the Oregon Coast Aquatic and Marine Science Partnership (OCAMP) used this experiment for a peer-to-peer teaching activity among 6th and 3rd graders. See their presentation that includes teaching objectives, techniques and student assessments.
  • Resources concerning the potential effects of changing turbidity, stream flow and temperature on aquatic species

Assessment:

  • Use or develop formative assessment probes to gauge student understanding about the water cycle. The following probes from Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, vol. 2 could be applied or modified (to obtain Uncovering Student Ideas in Science publications or access sample chapters, visit the NSTA website):
    • Habitat Change (vol. 2)—explores student understanding of how animal populations are affected when habitats are changed.
    • Beach sand (vol. 1)—the purpose of this probe is to elicit students’ ideas about weathering, erosion, deposition, and landforms. It may be used as is, or modified to better relate to a similar concept found in the schoolyard habitat (pebble size in streams, for example).
  • Probe: Rain on the Parking Lot—the purpose of this OCEP probe is to elicit students’ ideas about how rainwater interacts with impervious surfaces.
  • Students teach the How Do Trees Affect Erosion? activity to younger students.
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Water Use

Human Use of Resources—Water Use

Summary: How much water do we use? By exploring online water use resources and conducting personal surveys at home and in the classroom, students will gain an understanding of how humans utilize water resources.

Concepts to teach: Water use, resource, conservation

Goals: Students will gain a better understanding of the ways water resources are utilized in residential, industrial, and agricultural settings. They will gain an appreciation for the amount of water used for various activities in the community.

Standards:
H.3S.1, H.3S.2, H.3S.3

Specific Objectives:

  1. Calculate personal water use at home and school.
  2. Describe how much water is used in three different human activities.
  3. Identify three ways water might be wasted.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • The Oregon Story: Water
    • Lesson 1—Explores the importance of water and how it is used.
    • Lesson 2—Helps students better understand water flow; where it comes from and where it goes.
    • Lesson 3—Focuses on water as limited resource, water rights issues, and a case study of the Klamath Basin conflict.
  • Develop inquiry studies that allow students to discover through research or personal data collection the amounts of water used for various human activities.
  • Trace the path of local drinking water.
    • Contact local planning boards and soil & water conservation districts to obtain information and maps pertaining to municipal water pathways.
    • Take a field trip to a local reservoir and/or water treatment plant.

Assessment:

  • Create a worksheet or classroom document on which students predict how much water is used for various human activities. Revisit the document at the end of the learning period and make adjustments as needed. Students may share their findings with the class through a written or oral report.
  • Compare and contrast water use by residential, agricultural and industrial activities.
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Land Plan Challenge

Human Use of Resources—Land Plan Challenge

Summary: Community planning can balance human needs and the health of natural resources. In this classroom modeling activity from Windows to the Universe, “students use simplified maps to plan towns, being conscious of water resources, and then learn how their town fits into the larger community.”

Concepts to teach: Maps, land planning, water resources

Goals: Students will work together to learn what services and resources a town needs, and how to meet those needs while protecting water resources.

Standards:
H.2L.2, H.2E.4, H.4D.1, SS.HS.GE.07, SS.HS.GE.08

Specific Objectives:

  1. Learn what services and resources a town needs, and that land planning to protect water resources is important.
  2. Discover that planning a town requires group decision-making, and is most effective if done over a large area and with the cooperation of many communities.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • The Geography of Land Planning (previously entitled Land Plan Challenge) —This lesson plan from the National Earth Science Teachers Association includes worksheets, standards, and suggestions for assessment. Students use simplified maps to plan towns, being conscious of water resources, and then learn how their town fits into the larger community.
  • After mapping, discuss the effects of various types of land use might have on the nearby streams and other waterways. This concept will be further explored in the Human Impact section of the Land and Water Use focus area.
  • Compare and contrast the fictional towns created by students to real maps of the local area.

Assessment:

  • Assessments included in the Land Plan Challenge lesson plan, including “Have student groups write a proposal letter to readers of neighboring towns about what they would like to see changed and why.”
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Land Use and Land Cover

Human Use of Resources—Land Use and Land Cover

Summary: Students use Google Earth to make land use maps, and compare current and historic land uses.

Concepts to teach: Land use, land cover, Google Earth, historical changes in land use

Goals: Students become familiar with using Google Earth mapping software to learn more about and identify land use practices in the local community.

Standards:
SS.HS.GE.02, SS.HS.GE.07

Specific Objectives:

  1. Define land use and land cover and provide examples of land cover classes.
  2. Understand how to create a simple land cover map using Google Earth.
  3. Compare current and historical land use for a local area.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Understanding Land Use and Land Cover—This lesson plan from AmericaView gives detailed instruction about how to use Google Earth to make land use and land cover maps for the local area. Student computer access required.
  • Discuss how local land use impacts the environment locally, regionally, and globally.
  • To find current maps of your local area, contact your local:
    • City Planning Department
    • School District (keyword search: facility plan)
  • Identify changes in land use that have occurred over the past 100 years.
    • Use historic maps, photographs, and interviews with community elders and other experts to find out what the area was like in the past.
    • Illustrate the changes by making timelines and comparative maps.
  • Oregon Coast Quests
    • Yaquina Head Tale of Two Hills Quest—This self-guided place-based activity located in Newport tells the story of land use changes at Yaquina Head over 100 years. Featured human impacts include burning, livestock grazing, rock quarrying, golfing, residential development, and modern electrical towers.
    • Make a Quest or other interpretive guide that features the human impacts that students have identified in their local field site.

Assessment:

  • Worksheet and map from Understanding Land Use and Land Cover lesson plan.
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