Human Impacts on the Environment: Understanding Our Role in Ecosystem Health

Environmental Science Grades High School 10:38 Video
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Lesson Description

This lesson explores the five major ways human activities negatively impact the environment, focusing on their effects on ecosystem services and biodiversity. Students will learn about deforestation, desertification, global warming, invasive species, and overharvesting, and discuss potential solutions.

Video Resource

5 Human Impacts on the Environment: Crash Course Ecology #10

CrashCourse

Duration: 10:38
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Key Concepts

  • Ecosystem Services
  • Biodiversity
  • Human Impacts on the Environment

Learning Objectives

  • Students will be able to identify and explain the five major ways human activities impact the environment.
  • Students will be able to define ecosystem services and explain their importance to human well-being.
  • Students will be able to describe the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.
  • Students will be able to analyze the cascade effects of human actions on ecosystems.

Educator Instructions

  • Introduction (5 mins)
    Begin by asking students what they already know about human impacts on the environment. Briefly introduce the concept of ecosystem services and why they are important. Explain that the lesson will cover five major impact areas, based on the Crash Course video.
  • Video Viewing (13 mins)
    Show the Crash Course Ecology #10 video: '5 Human Impacts on the Environment.' Instruct students to take notes on the five impacts discussed: deforestation, desertification, global warming, invasive species, and overharvesting.
  • Discussion (15 mins)
    Lead a class discussion about the video. Use the discussion questions provided. Encourage students to share their thoughts and ask clarifying questions.
  • Interactive Exercise: Impact Analysis (15 mins)
    Have students work in small groups to choose one of the five human impacts and create a concept map illustrating its causes, effects, and potential solutions.
  • Wrap-up and Assessment (7 mins)
    Summarize the key concepts covered in the lesson. Administer the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank quizzes to assess student understanding.

Interactive Exercises

  • Impact Analysis: Concept Map
    Students will choose one of the five human impacts (deforestation, desertification, global warming, invasive species, or overharvesting) and create a concept map. The concept map should illustrate the causes of the impact, its effects on ecosystems and ecosystem services, and potential solutions to mitigate the impact. Students should use examples from the video and their own research.

Discussion Questions

  • What are some examples of ecosystem services that you benefit from daily?
  • How does deforestation contribute to global warming?
  • Why are invasive species harmful to native ecosystems?
  • What are some potential solutions to address the human impacts discussed in the video?
  • How can individuals make a difference in reducing their environmental impact?

Skills Developed

  • Critical Thinking
  • Analysis
  • Problem-Solving
  • Communication
  • Note taking

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1:

Which of the following is NOT an example of an ecosystem service?

Correct Answer: Manufacturing goods

Question 2:

What is the primary cause of desertification?

Correct Answer: Overgrazing and over-irrigation

Question 3:

Which greenhouse gas is most associated with global warming?

Correct Answer: Carbon Dioxide

Question 4:

What is a key characteristic of invasive species?

Correct Answer: They outcompete or harm native species

Question 5:

What does overharvesting lead to?

Correct Answer: Decreased population of harvested species and ecosystem vulnerability

Question 6:

What is the main reason biodiversity is so important?

Correct Answer: It makes ecosystems more resilient to change

Question 7:

What is a cascade effect?

Correct Answer: A series of consequences caused by one or two changes in an ecosystem.

Question 8:

What are the principle greenhouse gases?

Correct Answer: Carbon Dioxide

Question 9:

What can deforestation cause?

Correct Answer: Desertification

Question 10:

How are humans driving global warming?

Correct Answer: All of the above

Fill in the Blank Questions

Question 1:

________ are the benefits that the natural world provides us for free.

Correct Answer: Ecosystem services

Question 2:

________ is the clearing of forests, often for agriculture or logging.

Correct Answer: Deforestation

Question 3:

________ is the process by which fertile land turns into desert.

Correct Answer: Desertification

Question 4:

________ is the increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to the buildup of greenhouse gases.

Correct Answer: Global warming

Question 5:

A ________ species is a non-native organism that causes harm to the environment, economy, or human health.

Correct Answer: Invasive

Question 6:

________ is the removal of a species from its environment at a rate that is faster than the species can replenish its population.

Correct Answer: Overharvesting

Question 7:

Ecosystems with high ________ are way more resilient to disturbances than those with low ________.

Correct Answer: Biodiversity

Question 8:

Cutting down trees does not automatically make a forest into a desert, ________ is driven along by factors like overgrazing.

Correct Answer: Desertification

Question 9:

The climate has changed many times in the past, but the changes usually took place over ________ or even ________.

Correct Answer: Centuries, Millennia

Question 10:

There is a separate set of effects that humanity has on the biosphere that stems simply from us putting the wrong amounts of certain stuff in the wrong place at the wrong time, this is what we call ________.

Correct Answer: Pollution

Educational Standards

EN.LS2.6:Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem. EN.LS2.7:Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.* EN.ESS3.4:Evaluate design solutions for a major global or local environmental problem that reduces or stabilizes the impacts of human activities on natural systems.*

Teaching Materials

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