Investigating Urban Ecosystems Series: Modules for Middle & High School Teachers & Students
Teams of BES Ecosystem Education Fellows (practicing classroom teachers), scientists and educators are developing instructional materials that comprise the Investigating Urban Ecosystems series. Each module includes BES datasets unique to Baltimore, and protocols based on BES work that students can use to carry out their own studies. These instructional support materials can be used flexibly by educators in a diversity of middle- or high-school science or social studies courses. Kits of materials and supplies for teaching the units also are available on the BES wiki page online HERE.
Modules currently available in draft form include:
Exploring Watersheds in Baltimore - urban hydrology and water quality, and what they tell us about the land.
Investigations in Urban Soils: Earthworms in the City - the soils beneath Baltimore, their role in the city and the surprising ecology of urban earthworms.
Schoolyard Hydro-Ecology – water budgets, water flows and water’s ways in the schoolyard ecosystem.
Modules under development include:
Neighborhood Ecology and Geography – how do ecology and people shape the places we live.
The City Breathes – what’s in our air, where did it come from, what does it mean for us.
Tree Treasures – the health of Baltimore’s 2,600,000 trees and what they do for us.
Animals in the Urban Landscape - who else lives in the city and how are we connected to them?
