Student Choice Analysis of Pollution, Ozone, Acid Rain, and DDT.
This digital lesson examines how scientific understanding and coordinated human action have reduced or reversed major environmental problems. Students analyze case studies of six real environmental issues and construct evidence-based explanations showing how damage occurred and how solutions were implemented.
Students begin with a short conceptual introduction and then select three of six environmental problems to investigate. For each case, they review curated resources and analyze:
the scientific cause of the problem
the environmental and biological effects
the actions taken to reduce or solve it
the resulting environmental outcomes
The six case study options include:
Lead pollution
Ozone depletion
Water and air pollution
Acid rain
DDT and biomagnification
Habitat restoration
Across all choices, students are required to connect cause, mechanism, and outcome, rather than simply summarize facts. The lesson emphasizes how science, policy, and technology interact to change environmental trajectories.
This lesson is designed to support:
synthesis of ecology and human impact concepts
analysis of historical and modern environmental data
evidence-based explanation and argumentation
structured student choice within a common learning goal
It functions well as an end-of-unit or end-of-year ecology activity, or as part of a human impact and environmental solutions sequence. The digital format allows for low-prep implementation while maintaining analytical rigor.
Grade & Course Recommendation:
High School:Grades 9-12 Biology or Earth Science, ecology, resource management, and human impact unit.
To preview this lesson, click here.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
ELA Integration: Students write persuasive essays or evidence-based arguments about climate solutions.
Social Studies Integration: Links to global policy, environmental justice, and human geography.
Math Integration: Data analysis using charts or climate trends.
Daily slide + literacy - based exit ticket included with purchase
HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
Connection: Students analyze how real-world policies (e.g., Clean Air Act, Montreal Protocol) reduced pollution and restored ecosystems.
HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
Connection: Students examine technological innovations (scrubbers, catalytic converters, DDT bans) that improved environmental conditions.
HS-ESS3-6: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
Connection: Students investigate cause-and-effect relationships between human pollution, atmospheric chemistry, and ecosystem health.
Science & Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and interpreting data
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Crosscutting Concepts:
Cause and effect
Stability and change
Human-environment interactions
Systems and system models
Grades 9–12:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of scientific texts describing environmental change and solutions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2: Determine central ideas and summarize key improvements from environmental restoration efforts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7: Integrate visual, quantitative, and textual information from multimedia sources (videos, graphs, and EPA data).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2: Write explanatory texts to convey complex scientific processes (e.g., ozone recovery, acid rain neutralization).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis and conclusions about human impact and environmental change.
Student Choice Analysis of Pollution, Ozone, Acid Rain, and DDT.
This digital lesson examines how scientific understanding and coordinated human action have reduced or reversed major environmental problems. Students analyze case studies of six real environmental issues and construct evidence-based explanations showing how damage occurred and how solutions were implemented.
Students begin with a short conceptual introduction and then select three of six environmental problems to investigate. For each case, they review curated resources and analyze:
the scientific cause of the problem
the environmental and biological effects
the actions taken to reduce or solve it
the resulting environmental outcomes
The six case study options include:
Lead pollution
Ozone depletion
Water and air pollution
Acid rain
DDT and biomagnification
Habitat restoration
Across all choices, students are required to connect cause, mechanism, and outcome, rather than simply summarize facts. The lesson emphasizes how science, policy, and technology interact to change environmental trajectories.
This lesson is designed to support:
synthesis of ecology and human impact concepts
analysis of historical and modern environmental data
evidence-based explanation and argumentation
structured student choice within a common learning goal
It functions well as an end-of-unit or end-of-year ecology activity, or as part of a human impact and environmental solutions sequence. The digital format allows for low-prep implementation while maintaining analytical rigor.
Grade & Course Recommendation:
High School:Grades 9-12 Biology or Earth Science, ecology, resource management, and human impact unit.
To preview this lesson, click here.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
ELA Integration: Students write persuasive essays or evidence-based arguments about climate solutions.
Social Studies Integration: Links to global policy, environmental justice, and human geography.
Math Integration: Data analysis using charts or climate trends.
Daily slide + literacy - based exit ticket included with purchase
HS-LS2-7: Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
Connection: Students analyze how real-world policies (e.g., Clean Air Act, Montreal Protocol) reduced pollution and restored ecosystems.
HS-ESS3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
Connection: Students examine technological innovations (scrubbers, catalytic converters, DDT bans) that improved environmental conditions.
HS-ESS3-6: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
Connection: Students investigate cause-and-effect relationships between human pollution, atmospheric chemistry, and ecosystem health.
Science & Engineering Practices:
Analyzing and interpreting data
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Crosscutting Concepts:
Cause and effect
Stability and change
Human-environment interactions
Systems and system models
Grades 9–12:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of scientific texts describing environmental change and solutions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2: Determine central ideas and summarize key improvements from environmental restoration efforts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7: Integrate visual, quantitative, and textual information from multimedia sources (videos, graphs, and EPA data).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.2: Write explanatory texts to convey complex scientific processes (e.g., ozone recovery, acid rain neutralization).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis and conclusions about human impact and environmental change.
