Module 6: Crops part of Future of Food
Heather Karsten, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
This module introduces students to key features of crop plants. The first part explores how climate and soil influence human selection of annual and perennial plants and how plant life cycles contribute to soil ...

5. Passive Designs part of Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Randolph Chambers, College of William and Mary
In this module, we consider how the actual design and placement of buildings can be important considerations for energy efficiency, thereby optimizing winter heating and summer cooling needs. One of the simplest ...

Unit 5.2 - Water Balance Impacts part of Critical Zone Science
Martha Conklin, University of California-Merced
This is the second module of a two week-long unit on hydrology in an upper-level undergraduate course on the Critical Zone. After Unit 5.1, students should have a basic understanding of the fluxes and reservoirs in ...

Unit 7.1 - Model My Watershed part of Critical Zone Science
Susan Gill, Stroud Water Research Center; Jim Washburne, The University of Arizona
Humans are agents of change in the Critical Zone. This unit focuses on the land/water connection and on how human-induced land use change affects local hydrology. Students will apply what they learned in the ...

Unit 2.1: Hydrologic Impact of Land-Use Change part of An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources
John Ritter, Wittenberg University; Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota; Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
In this activity, students model the impact of land-cover changes on stormwater runoff using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator (Calculator). The students are introduced to the Calculator through a ...

Unit 3. Urban Water - Atmospheric Environment Interactions part of Water Sustainability in Cities
Marshall Shepherd, University of Georgia
Unit 3 addresses concepts related to urban-atmosphere interactions. The content explores how urban landscapes and atmospheric constituents modify or interact with the atmosphere to affect temperature, clouds, ...

Unit 4. Urban Landscapes and Water Use part of Water Sustainability in Cities
Gigi Richard, Fort Lewis College
Students are introduced to evapotranspiration (ET) and how ET varies with meteorological factors and plant factors. A pre-class video and worksheet introduce students to estimating landscape water needs from ET and ...

Unit 2: Community-Based Participatory Solutions part of Food as the Foundation for Healthy Communities
Richard D. Schulterbrandt Gragg III, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University; John Warford, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University; Cynthia Hewitt, Morehouse College; Akin Akinyemi, Florida State University; Cheryl Young, Heritage University
The introduction and examination of the food, energy, and water connection—as a system in Unit 1—established the dictates of human dependency on and human modification of the environment. We continue a logical ...

Unit 6: Creating an Agricultural "Fact Sheet" part of A Growing Concern
Hannah Scherer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ; Martha Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College; Sarah Fortner, Carleton College
For a given region, students will use what they have learned about the interdisciplinary problem of soil sustainability to make recommendations for agricultural practices in response to potential changes in ...

Unit 2.3: Modeling Land-Use Change and Mitigation Strategies part of An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources
John Ritter, Wittenberg University; Meghann Jarchow, University of South Dakota; Ed Barbanell, University of Utah
In this activity, students model the impact of a proposed land-use change for a local site using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator (Calculator). Given a description of the proposed land-use change, ...