Great Lakes As a Heat Source and Heat Sink

One of the principles of water is that it absorbs and releases heat easily. When there is a basin of water, like the Great Lakes, the ability to hold onto and release heat can have a significant impact on the surrounding coastal areas. Those coastal areas throughout the Great Lakes are often referred to as “The Fruit Belt.” This lesson and accompanying activities explore water's ability to absorb and release heat, the affect the Great Lakes can have on the surrounding land, and how the relationship between those two influence the economy and culture of Great Lakes coastal areas.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Lesson Plan, Reference Material

Economic Significance of the Great Lakes

In this lesson, students will be introduced to one of the main ways that the Great Lakes impact the economy of the region—shipping. Countless ships carry myriad cargo throughout the Great Lakes waterways to various destinations, making the transportation of goods accessible, reliable, and effective. Without the Great Lakes to transport various goods, which are typically shipped in the waterways, many commonly accessible materials would not be available in the ways they are today. This lesson will afford students the chance to see some of that technology in action, as well as see the direct impact that shipping has on the regional commercial industry.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Homework/Assignment, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: Gary Abud

Global And Great Lakes Climate Change

In this activity students work with data to analyze local and global temperature anomaly data to look for warming trends. The activity focuses on the Great Lakes area.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Ohio Sea Grant, Ohio State University

Dunes, Boxcars, and Ball Jars: Mining the Great Lakes Shores

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students estimate the volume of sand in Hoosier Slide, a large dome-shaped dune quarried away in the 1920s from what is now Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. They also estimate the number of boxcars to carry the sand, and the number of Ball jars produced from it.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Denise Davis, Len Vacher, Tiffany Roberts

PBS Wisconsin Shipwrecks

In The Legend of the Lost Emerald, learners in grades 4-6 will use the same tools, practices, and skills that maritime archaeologists use to locate and dive for shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and uncover the real treasure—the stories inspired by actual shipwrecks and Great Lakes history.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Diagram/Illustration, Game, Lesson, Lesson Plan

Author: PBS Learning Media

The Legend of the Lost Emerald

Take a deep dive into maritime mysteries with this point-and-click adventure game! Learners will use critical thinking and historical inquiry skills to recover the real treasure—the stories of shipwrecks inspired by real Great Lakes history. Dive into the game, and explore the educator guide at pbswisconsineducation.org/emerald.

Material Type: Game

Authors: Field Day, PBS Wisconsin Education, Wisconsin Sea Grant

GLIFWC

The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission is commonly known by its acronym, GLIFWC. Formed in 1984, GLIFWC represents eleven Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan who reserved hunting, fishing and gathering rights in the 1836, 1837, 1842, and 1854 Treaties with the United States government.GLIFWC provides natural resource management expertise, conservation enforcement, legal and policy analysis, and public information services in support of the exercise of treaty rights during well-regulated, off-reservation seasons throughout the treaty ceded territories.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Formative Assessment

Author: Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission

Wisconsin First Nations - The Ways

The Ways is a series of stories from Native communities around the central Great Lakes. This online educational resource explores connections between traditional ways and those of today. The engaging series features tribal communities of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. An interactive map shows story locations and compares treaty lands, reservations, and Native population around the central Great Lakes. The Ways supports educators in meeting the requirements of Wisconsin Act 31, seeking to expand and challenge current understanding of Native identity and communities.

Material Type: Module, Primary Source, Reference Material

Authors: Becky Marburger, PBS Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PHENOLOGY OF INDIGENOUS NATURAL RESOURCES

The Bayfield High School Ojibwe Language Course focuses on teaching traditional Ojibwe lifeways while using the Ancestral language. Students will learn how the Ojibwe people historically depended on natural resources for their survival. One activity that occurs in the spring is the investigation of Plant Phenology. The students will further their investigation by looking into reasons why the Phenology of certain plants vary. The students will focus on the impact of climate change and how it poses many risks to phenological events in the plants used by the Great lakes Ojibwe. Students will list various plants, research, and record the phenological events of the plants. Students will compare their observations with the previous year to determine if the plants are impacted by Climate change.  Local tribal elders and harvesters provide traditional stories and observations to gain a historical information on plant phenology. Through this activity, Bayfield students learn about how climate change can alter the phenology of some plant species and might impact traditional harvesting.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Authors: Rick Erickson, rebecca boyd

Connect, Explore, Engage Template (Open Author 1.0)

This template is to be used in the Connect, Explore, Engage professional learning series. Sign into WISELearn to create your own copy of this resource and update the template and this abstract.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Victoria Rydberg-Nania, Sandy Benton

A Cool Connection: Using a short story or a one act play to explore the environmental impact of electricity use

This activity uses the reading, A Cool Connection (as a short story or one act play), to increase student understanding of how electrical power gets to their home and to introduce the connections between environmental problems and personal consumption. The storyline revolves around a group of high school students seeking relief from a heatwave while planning activities for their Ecology Club. Topics introduced and assessed: • The steps needed to move electrical power from where it is produced to where it is consumed • The environmental costs of energy production • The social costs of not meeting electrical demand

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Joe Riederer

Connect, Explore, Engage through Phenology

Phenology is the study of seasonal and cyclical changes in nature. In this Unit, students will follow in the footsteps of Aldo Leopold and his children by closely observing the natural world around them, connecting those observations to the seasonal changes in their landscape, and developing an appreciation for the dedication of scientists like Leopold. They will Connect, Explore, and Engage with nature through poetry writing, technology-assisted exploration, and phenological observations.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Skylar Primm

Survival Novel Unit

This unit is designed around providing student choice. There will be 5 novels for students to choose from: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Refugee by Alan Gratz, Zeros by Scott Westerfeld, The Martian by Andy Weir, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Each novel focuses on the central theme of survival. Students will read and meet weekly for 8 weeks. Each week the novel groups will be given specific discussion questions and tasks that are aligned with Wisconsin ELA standards and Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy & Sustainability.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Tirzah Zipperer

Connect, Explore, and Engage: John Muir's Boyhood Neighborhood

John Muir is known as the father of our National Parks. His boyhood was spent in Marquette County, Wisconsin where he found inspiration in the wilderness around him. In this Unit, students will learn about John Muir’s boyhood neighborhood and actively work to preserve it, connect with Muir’s many accomplishments, understand different environmental philosophies, and saunter in nature while observing and reflecting on the world around them. Students will Connect, Explore, and Engage through intentional time in nature, reflective writing, reading inspirational passages by Muir, and using technology to document changes over time.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Tiffany Lodholz

What's in a Name?

In this lesson, students will learn about the process of classifying and naming plants including common and scientific names.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Author: Crystal Brunelle

Can I Eat This? Wild Edibles and Literacy

Wild edible, medicinal and poisonous plants are an ideal way to connect students to the natural world just outside their door. In this unit, students will be able to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants using guide books and plotting them on the Siftr app. Using the collected edibles, students will then follow a procedural text to create food from their wild edibles. Students will then create recipes on their own based on a wild edible of their choice to create community cookbooks.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Amanda Bolan

Wisconsin Almanac: Using Siftr to increase student awareness of the seasonal changes in nature

At the beginning of each month, students will read and discuss that month's essay from Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac. They will then use the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr to document the seasonal changes in the natural world around them. At the end of each month, students explore the Siftr postings from their peers and identify any patterns they see in data.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Joe Riederer

Ancient Earth Globe: Using Models to Understand Earth History

Students explore Earth History using the Ancient Earth Globe web app.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Joe Riederer

Can You Catch the Water?

Students construct three-dimensional models of water catchment basins using everyday objects to form hills, mountains, valleys and water sources. They experiment to see where rain travels and collects, and survey water pathways to see how they can be altered by natural and human activities. Students discuss how engineers design structures that impact water collection, as well as systems that clean and distribute water.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Denise W. Carlson, Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,, Janet Yowell, Jay Shah, Malinda Schaefer Zarske

Dam Forces

Students learn how the force of water helps determine the size and shape of dams. They use clay to build models of four types of dams, and observe the force of the water against each type. They conclude by deciding which type of dam they, as Splash Engineering engineers, will design for Thirsty County.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Denali Lander, Denise W. Carlson, Integrated Teaching and Learning Program and Laboratory,, Kristin Field, Lauren Cooper, Megan Podlogar, Sara Born, Timothy M. Dittrich