Resource Library

National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) has compiled their own set of Oil Spill resources. They include everything from websites and articles to visuals and lesson plans. Content spans grades K-12, so make sure to check for your appropriate grade level.

Students will understand the benefits and problems associated with fire and the role that fire plays in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

Students will be able to understand hazardous chemicals and their effect on human health and the environment, explain the importance of cleaning up hazardous waste, identify facilities in their neighborhoods that deal with hazardous chemicals and recognize local and federal agencies responsible for environmental hazards in their communities.

By examining the case of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in 1986, students study the adverse effects of high doses of radiation on biological systems.

Romey Stuckart is an artist who creates large-scale paintings of the forest and her surroundings, skillfully balancing abstraction and representation. Her heavily textured paintings are filled with inspiration and intuition. Using Stuckart's painting The Cedar as a focal point, students will create paintings while learning about the role that forests play in our environment and our imagination. From the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge program.

In this lesson, students will examine the ways in which art has the power to influence government policy. Students will learn that photography has had a social impact at various intersections with other historical events and movements. This lesson addresses the impact the photographs of the western frontier had on eastern U.S., especially by ensuring that the national parks system would be created. From the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge program.

Students will learn about the ecology of the bison of the plains and how art was used to save them through a series of activities. Student will discuss specific artists whose worked revolved around the bison and how this artwork was instrumental in the conservation of the animal. The student will discuss the role of the bison in the lifestyle of the Plains Indian. Lastly, the student will create a story about bison and a corresponding piece of artwork.  From the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

In the early 19th century, the Lewis and Clark's Expedition was charged by President Jefferson to map the Louisiana Purchase. During their exploration, they also collected and recorded plant and animal species, kept detailed records of the diversity of life, drew and painted examples of the plant and animals, and named these newly identified species. Students will focus on a two- week period in 1804, and select one plant and one animal species to research. They will draw each plant and animal species and create a journal entry for each item. From the Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge.

In the Web-based game Predator Protector, students take on the role of an Ocean Adventures expedition volunteer member. In this role, students are charged with protecting three species of sharks from danger in order to defend the balance of nature in the ecosystem that these top predators help to maintain.