Advances
in technology have revolutionized American life. However, accompanying
these advances are new chemicals,
different
levels of exposure and new work conditions. Each
year we increase the number of chemicals
in commonly
used. Many represent advances in technology
or have improved our lives significantly. Unfortunately,
they sometimes have a negative impact on
human health, if used incorrectly or disposed
of improperly:
- How does a
society maintain a safe environmental health in the work place
and the home?
In American
history class students review the social, economic and health
impacts of industry. Toxicologists
are the biomedical scientists who study the adverse effects
of chemicals on living
organisms. Lessons in chemistry support
students’ understanding of physical and chemical properties
of substances, molecular structure, and toxicity, while they
examine the advances and consequences of the development and
use of chemicals and industrialization.
Work by Carl
Sandberg, Upton
Sinclair as well as photographic documentation
and an introduction to the Muckrakers provides a foundation for
students in language arts to not only examine industrialization
and its impact, but also to dip into poetic analysis, narrative
writing, plus examine and write editorials.
In this unit,
students develop an
understanding of basic environmental
toxicology while addressing basic chemical and physical
properties of substances. As students
gain an understanding
about basic environmental toxicology
they are also introduced to the health impacts of industrialization
from a historical perspective.
This
unit
addresses
the education standards for 11th grade.
Major
Project - Wildcat Dumping
The
major project mphasizes
the responsible use and disposal of chemicals by industry
and targets a worldwide
environmental health issues that affect many communities today.
Students investigate cleanup techniques for manmade environmental
health problems, learn about the role of the newspaper for
informing the public, and apply their understanding of the
need for chemicals
in modern society. The students research the impacts of local
environmental health problems on the members of society. The
unit develops science and health literacy thru a variety of
reading, writing, and library research activities. The students
will compose
a newspaper editorial, from the perspective of a community
member, which exposes the effects of illegal dumping and
persuades readers
to take action.
|
Scientist
Profile - Dr. Ornella Selmin
|
| Week
- Connection |
Chemistry |
Social
Studies |
Language
Arts |
Math |
Week
1
In science students are introduced to Chernobyl incident and the resulting environmental health impacts and the difference between types of ionizing radiation. Social studies will begin to look at standardization and mass production in industry, the Industrial Revolution in America, and the relationship between the business, the worker, and the landscape. In language arts students will be introduced to the poetry of Carl Sandburg who wrote during the Industrial Revolution. Students will review the units of the metric system in math. |
Reactor Incident |
The
Parts Make up the Whole |
Chalk
Talk |
How Big is It? |
| Radioactive Isotopes |
The
ABCs of Industry |
Sandburg
Study |
| Radiation Experiments |
A Society
of Employees |
Poetic
Analysis |
| Toxic Milk Return |
Flush it!
Throw it! |
Week
2
In science students will study of the environmental risks caused by burning fossil fuels and the fundamental concepts of chemistry such as the law of conservation of matter in order to understand that all of our energy choices contain a certain risk. In social studies students explore the connections between industry, pollutants and contaminants, and human health. They will be writing a piece of poetry in language arts, modeled after Carl Sandburg’s poetry, capturing the experience of a worker they know. Math will support science by helping students better understand what a concentration of one part per million. |
Our Future – Nuclear Power |
Pollution
and Contaminants |
How Small is It? |
Energy Debate - Global Warming |
| Energy of a peanut |
Leftovers,
do you want them? |
Poetry
Writing |
| Combustion reactions |
Dangerous
for Your Health |
Week
3
In science students will explore how global warming will affect the earth, study the different fractions of crude oil, and draw covalent bonding diagrams for the compounds associated with the Bhopal disaster. Through social studies students will learn what industries produced during the Industrial Revolution, unfriendly labor policies, and the affects on the worker. In language arts students will see pictures of child laborers from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s and explore some readings about these children before composing their own narrative stories based on an image of a child laborer. Math will review the process of unit analysis to convert between units of radioactivity and will examine the Chernobyl disaster. |
Energy Debate –
Sea Level Rise
Energy Debate –
Stoichiometry |
Working
9-5 |
Slide
Show |
Chernobyl 1
|
Energy Debate-
Conclusion |
The
Experience of the Child Laborer |
| Runaway Reaction |
Narrative
Nuts and Bolts |
Covalent Bonding and Molecular Geometry
|
Narrative
Writing |
Chernobyl 2 |
Week
4
Science classes will investigate factors that affect the rate of reaction in the context of how the chemical plant in Bhopal blew up as well as looking at TCE and the Love Canal disaster. In social studies students will investigate the regulatory reforms that began taking place during the Progressive Era due to muckraker literature. Students will read an excerpt from The Jungle as a way to expose the atrocities that took place in the meat packing industry in Chicago in language arts. Students in math will calculate the amount of everyday food products or liquids that would need to be consumed in order to experience toxic effects. |
Rate of Reaction |
|
| Conclusion |
Love Canal
Trichloroethylene |
EXTRA!
Read about it! |
| Slide Show |
Week
5
In science students continue to investigate different toxins that are a part of our contemporary environment due to our highly industrialized society. Social studies classes expand on that theme by looking at how internationalized industries are. Students in language arts compare working conditions for adult laborers during the Industrial Revolution to contemporary conditions using non-fiction examples.
|
Investigate contaminants |
The
Jungle and readers response |
The Portion is the Poison |
Oxidation with potassium Permanganate. |
Today:
American Industry and the Multinationals |
Conditions
Today |
| Redox |
Health
and the Community. |
Week
6
Students will prepare for the final project in science classes by continuing to investigate the chemicals that are a part of our daily lives due to industrialization. In social studies they will research different industries or community elements that have contributed to sanitation and pollution problems in the past. Students will learn about editorials and how to write one in language arts classes.
|
Jekyll & Hyde |
Diseases
are real |
The Editorial |
|
| Efficient Fertilizer |
The Parts
of an Editorial |
Stoichiometry
Heat of Solution |
The Editorial
Revisited |
| Is it Worth the Risk? |
Editorial Writing |
Week
7
The final project will be focused on wildcat dumping and how chemicals contaminate our communities and cause environmental health problems. This work will be coordinated through social studies and will utilize all the skills acquired and knowledge learned in the four disciplines this quarter.
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| | <
Wildcat Dumping Site |
| |
Today: Our Communities, Our Health |
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Wildcat Dumping |
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