Urban Environmental Quality and Human Health: Conceiving a Sustainable Future

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.07.05

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Overview
  3. Rationale
  4. Strategy
  5. Background
  6. Notes and Resources - For Teacher
  7. Resources for students (research) and teachers
  8. Pictures
  9. Resources - For Teacher
  10. Bibliography
  11. Appendix A
  12. Appendix B
  13. Appendix C

Considering Case Studies of Chemical Contamination

Jeffrey C. Davis

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Rationale

Since the substances that we are going to consider in our study provide energy, primarily from fossil fuels, the lessons will address much more than gas, liquid, solid, and colloid. While observing the nature of gas, oil, coal, and uranium, my students will learn, through context, about mining, climate change, radiation, hazardous wastes, nuclear power, political power, certain aspects of how government, major industry, and the military function. They will see how socio-economic status mitigates power. And my students will learn how "regular" people like them can make a difference in their community. I want my students to have a successful experience expressing themselves, convincingly and publicly. I want them to develop their voices, articulate their opinion, and then defend it with confidence.

My school is located just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, about five miles south of the city line in Santa Fe County. Approximately 70 percent of the student population is on free or reduced lunch and a similar ratio is Hispanic with more than one-half of those having close ties to Mexico (e.g., grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, etc). They are mostly legal immigrant families, but many of them know undocumented people. There is no assumption that their friends and family will not be hassled by the authorities. They tend to mind their own business, keep quiet, and try to stay out of trouble. This is good in some ways but it also inhibits healthy risk taking and questioning of authority. This aspect of my school's population inspires me to look into those standards I am responsible to teach and to include critical and creative thinking skills and experiences in my lessons. I want my students to understand the political system they live in and to have the confidence in themselves to function actively in that system. While my generation is grumbling about the price of gas and war in the Middle East, I foresee even higher gas prices and increasing international and ethnic violence in my students' future. I hope to help them realize that they can influence their future and the future of their country. I have no business complaining. While I might wonder if I can afford a first class vacation next year, they might be the first class that can't afford any.

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