Missouri River Bird Observatory

Video Description: In celebration of the June 8th World Oceans Day, Future Frogmen produced an animated video discussing what you can do to reduce plastic pollution. This video serves as a nice, short introduction to the issue of plastic pollution and what the students can do.

• Video is 3 min total in length 

Video Description from YouTube: There’s been a lot of talk on YouTube lately about ocean plastic pollution. But there hasn’t been enough talk about the **ridiculously unthinkable scale of the ocean plastic pollution problem** or how it intersects with other environmental issues like climate change. And here’s a big spoiler alert: Nearly all environmental scientists agree that ocean plastic pollution isn’t a problem we can clean our way out of. So what CAN we do? That’s what this video is about.

• Video is 15 min and 54 seconds long. It is recommended that the students watch the whole thing.
  
• Video gives information in a light manner that does not take away from the seriousness of the issue.
  
• Video may be overwhelming for students if they haven’t heard much about the plastic pollution issue before. If this is the case, make sure to pause frequently and check in with students. 

Activity Summary: In this activity students will take a “pre-quiz” to determine their gaps in knowledge about plastic pollution. Then they will do a scavenger hunt to find items made of plastic. With each plastic item they will determine what type of plastic it is made of and research how long it takes for that plastic type to breakdown.

• Students will need an internet capable device to be able to take the quiz and research the types of plastic. 

Description: Article explains why birds hit windows and the effect of artificial light on collisions and bird migration.
Link: https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/why-birds-hit-glass/

• Article covers the basics, but you can encourage to read the other resources the American Bird Conservancy has on this issue.
  
• You can have the students answer questions after reading article or while they are reading.
  
• While reading the article, students need to complete the follow-up questions in the document below to make sure they understand the concepts introduced. Note: Document to Video Follow-Up Questions is a pdf to all articles/videos in lesson. 

Video Description: Windows are tricky for birds! Learn why that’s true and what we can do to help as BirdSafe Kansas City coordinator Theresa Enderle shares some important tips for keeping birds from striking your windows. Video produced by the Missouri River Bird Observatory as a part of their virtual Birds and Bees Festival.

• Video is approximately 32 min in length total. However, students only need to watch through 17:47.
• Start video at 0:40 to skip Zoom intro stuff. 

Activity Summary: In this activity students will use their knowledge about window strikes to prevent birds hitting the windows around them. They will conduct a study to determine which windows birds are hitting in their classroom, school, or home and implement preventative solutions.

• If working in a classroom setting, it may be best to split the class into groups to conduct their study. Or work as an entire classroom depending on the size of your class.
• The students may also need to host a fundraiser of some sort to acquire the funding needed for their particular window treatment. 

Video Description: Invasive species cost the global economy over a trillion dollars each year. Find out how these non-native organisms are introduced into an ecosystem, how they impact local communities, and which measures can be taken to help prevent the introduction of invasive species.

• Video is 3 min and 31 seconds long. 

Video Description: The Missouri Department of Conservation’s Greater St. Louis Area Media Specialist talks to The McGraw Show about preventing the spread of invasives.

• Video is 6 min long.
• This video is a recording of a radio show so there aren’t many graphics, but they do post pictures of the invasives as they talk about them. 

Video Description: Massive vines that blanket the southern United States, climbing high as they uproot trees and swallow buildings. A ravenous snake that is capable of devouring an alligator. Rabbit populations that eat themselves into starvation. These aren’t horror movie concepts – they’re real stories. But how could such situations exist in nature? Jennifer Klos gives the facts on invasive species. Lesson by Jennifer Klos, animation by Globizco. Video by TED ed.

• Video is only 4 min and 45 seconds long. 

Video Description: This video was the winner of the INSTRUCTION category of the 2012 ESA YouTube Your Entomology contest. The video by Ellen Schofield and David Andow of the University of Minnesota uses animation to explain the harm of invasive species for outreach programs.

• Video is only 2 min long. 

Activity Summary: In this activity students will use their new knowledge about invasive species to create an invasive species of their own to exercise their thinking on how an invasive species works.

• This activity requires an additional worksheet that is downloadable from the Virtual Nature School website. 

Video Description: It’s not a huge surprise that nature is beneficial to our mental health. But why? Hosted by: Hank Green. Made by SciShow Psych.

• Video is 5 min and 44 seconds long 

Article Description: This article is a scientific literature review of the mental health benefits for children and teenagers interacting with different types of nature.

• Some terms may be advanced for students. Make sure to encourage them to look up words they are unfamiliar with.

Article Link: https://research.childrenandnature.org/research/interactions-with-nature-may-positively-influence-the-mental-health-of-children-and-teenagers/?h=knz2hyGH

While reading the article, students need to complete the follow-up questions in the document below to make sure they understand the concepts introduced. Note: Document to Video Follow-Up Questions is a pdf to all articles/videos in lesson. 

Activity Summary: In this activity students will reflect on their own connection to nature and interview someone from another generation to understand their experiences and how they may be different or like the student’s own.

• Recommended to be assigned as homework.
• The activity asks the students to interview someone two generations older than them. Some students may have difficulty finding someone to interview. It might be a good idea to have a few back-up people that you can assign to the students who don’t know anyone. 

Video Description: Explore what makes trees a vital part of cities, and how urban spaces throughout history have embraced the importance of trees. Video by TED-Ed.

• Video is about 5 min and 13 seconds long. The last 10 seconds can be skipped. 

Video Summary: Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen is a world leading expert in environmental exposure assessment, epidemiology, and health risk/impact assessment with a strong focus on healthy urban living. In this video, he explains how the lack of green spaces in city neighborhoods can affect mental and physical health, and how we can ensure that green spaces of quality are available and easily accessible to everyone.

• Video is approx. 2 min and 40 seconds long
• Will need to pause at the end so students can write down the answer to the last follow-up question. 

Activity Summary: This activity was developed by the Arizona State University Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. In this activity students are going to explore neighborhood systems and evaluate neighborhoods according to the Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness Index (SNHI). The SNHI is meant to serve as a means for assessing and comparing how well individual cities, towns, neighborhoods, and communities address sustainability issues associated with residential happiness.

• Teachers will assign neighborhood descriptions for each group to evaluate
• Original teacher outline instructions can be found online here under “Neighborhoods for Happiness” 

 Activity Resources (these are all downloadable PDFs) 

• Neighborhood-Happiness-Diagram
• Neighborhood-Promotion-Dobson-Ranch
• Neighborhood-Promotion-Downtown-Tempe
• Neighborhood-Promotion-Midtown-Phoenix

Activity Summary: This activity was developed by the Arizona State University Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives. In this activity students will think about their neighborhood and how their neighborhood would score on the Sustainable Neighborhood for Happiness Index (done in the previous activity).

• This activity can be done as a class or on an individual level. We recommend the students filling out their own T-Chart, but creating a large Vision poster with the whole class and brainstorming ways to improve the community together.
• Original teacher outline instructions can be found online here under “Neighborhoods for Happiness”