Week Twelve
Lesson 12: Factors of environmental change/Changes in the environment
S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.
(Clarification statement: Changes should be easily observable and could be seen on school grounds or at home.)
a. Ask questions to obtain information about major changes to the environment in your community.
What is environmental change?
Environmental change is a change in the environment that is caused by things like:
- Weather: is what the sky and the air outside is like
(Ex. bright and sunny or cold and cloudy)
- Plants: are living things that cover most of our planet Earth
(Ex. flowers, trees, grass)
- Animals: are living things that need food and water to live
(Ex. dogs, birds, bear, lizard)
How can you look for environmental changes?
- You may see different animals in your yard when the seasons change or the weather changes.
- You can see plants and trees grow or change color based on the season.
- Pollution can change the environment and make it less healthy for the animals living there.
- Weather can affect hibernation and migration of certain animals.
- Due to the food chain the absence of an animal can affect the routine of all the other animals including hibernation/migration and food sources.
So in order to protect the environment from bad changes, we have to understand how the habitat works.
For example, this is a bird bath in my yard. (image below)
Many birds come and go here to drink water or just perch and rest. But now that it's winter, and the weather has gotten colder, only a few birds come by.
You can see, that because of the weather, the plants are less green and have less leaves.
So, the bird bath allows me to observe and document things similar to the dragonfly project which are:
- Changes in the environment
- Number and species of the birds seen
Another example similar to environmental change:
Last year hurricane Isaias was in our area, and there was a tropical storm.
In the picture on the right, there used to be a birds nest tucked into the middle of this young lemon tree.
But because of the wind and rain the storm brought, this small nest was ruined.
Watch this Crash Course video below to learn a little more!
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