Introduction
The Helping Hands curriculum provides an opportunity to engage high school students in Great Lakes environmental stewardship. The lessons and hands-on activities apply to schools located in Great Lakes communities where large-scale environmental cleanup and restoration projects are taking place. Each Helping Hands lesson can be downloaded individually, or the entire curriculum is available as one document. The curriculum alignment with State, Next Generation, and National Science Education Standards can be found in the resources section of each lesson.
Lesson 1: Why Should We Keep the Great Lakes Great?Students learn about an environmental cleanup in their community, including details about the scope and design. They will
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Lesson 2: Get the Lowdown on Your Local Water Quality
Students go on a field trip to a remediated portion of their local water body to take water samples, then perform a lab with water test kits to determine water quality. They will
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Lesson 3: Making Environmental Decisions through Data AnalysisStudents make conclusions about the site water quality based on results from the data analysis activity. They learn how scientists use various communication strategies to communicate data to different groups and use data to make project-level decisions. They will
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Lesson 4: Dynamic Careers to Clean Up the EnvironmentStudents learn about different careers in the environment as well as the teamwork aspect of environmental cleanups. This lesson includes the option to have a project scientist or engineer visit as a guest speaker to discuss careers and their roles in the cleanup. They will
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Lesson 5: The Real Deal - Cleanup in the Field
Students tour the cleanup site and perform a litter cleanup. They will
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Lesson 6: Meeting the PressContact IISG for information on press events related to the cleanup and to learn how to participate. Logistics and timing for the press event will be determined months in advance. Students can simply attend the event to listen to VIP speakers, or
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