Environmental Issues: Land Use Change

Environmental Issues: Land Use Change is an interdisciplinary technology-embedded middle school science unit. This curricular unit focuses on how human activities influence environmental changes related to land use. Students use geospatial information technology (GIT) tools including Google Earth and remotely sensed images to investigate modern day land use issues and land use change over time.

Environmental Issues: Land Use Change was designed using the Understanding by Design framework and is aligned to national science and geography standards. The unit has modified materials from the NASA-sponsored Mission Geography curricular module, Human footprints on Earth as seen by NASA scientists to take advantage of available, user-friendly geospatial technologies. The materials have been pilot-tested and field-tested in 8th grade classrooms at Broughal Middle School, a technology-rich urban school.

Overview of the Unit - Click here for the unit overview.

Unit Instructional Framework - Click here to access the unit instructional framework. Includes the enduring understandings, essential questions, and an overview of the learning activities.

Instructional Sequence - Click here to access the daily instructional sequence.

Student Resources Page - Click here to access the student resources page. This page contains links to Google Earth files, remotely sensed images, and other Web-based media that students use in their investigations.

Instructional Handouts and Web-based Resources- Click here to access the unit's handouts and Web-based resources.

Assessments - Click here to access the unit's assessments.

Teacher Resources and Support Materials - Click here to access the unit's teacher resources and support materials.

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