Students investigate a regional issue as they adopt the roles of shareholders and debate solutions to the depletion of North America’s largest aquifer.
This is one of 8 activities that can be found in PLT’s Exploring Environmental Issues: Places We Live module. To get the activity, attend a training and receive PLT’s Places We Live secondary module. Below are some supporting resources for this activity.
Download the copyright-free student pages that are included with this activity:
Shareholder's View (PDF)
Case Study: Ogallala Aquifer (PDF)
Roles (PDF)
The following tools and resources may be used to enhance the activity.
This web toolkit is designed to help middle, high school, and college educators and students – as well as citizens, conservationists, municipal decision-makers, and researchers – advance their knowledge and stewardship of fresh water. Developed by the Stroud Water Research Center, the toolkit enables users to share watershed-model scenarios, watershed-monitoring data, and watershed-management stories as an open, collaborative community. Learn more and access archived training webinars for educators at www.wikiwatershed.org.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s interactive water cycle shows the various stages, actors, and components of the water cycle. There are three different versions of this resource for various ages as well as several languages.
This UN Foundation will work with high school students across the U.S. and select countries. During a ten-day period in October 2007 and March 2008, students across the globe organized public debates in their high schools and coordinated a global vote on the debate topics. You can view the debates and student created media on The People Speak.
EPA’s new EnviroAtlas tool is designed to help communities and researchers make informed planning and policy decisions related to the environment and ecosystems. EnviroAtlas provides datasets and interactive tools to allow users to explore the many benefits people receive from nature, often referred to as ecosystem services. EnviroAtlas includes over 300 data layers, letting users analyze how decisions affect ecosystems and their ability to provide goods and services. Key components include:
As we know, trees represent more than just beautiful natural elements of our land, they also provide shade, manage water, stop erosion, protect streams, soothe the soul, clean the air, protect the quality and health of water, and attract homeowners, renters, and shoppers. Check out this Doodle Lecture created by Alabama Cooperative Extension that unveils the many benefits of having trees in our communities.
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