Issues Awareness
Students discuss environmental issuesCopyright Wikimedia Commons http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Forest_fire_mae_hong_son_province_01.jpg
In this activity, students conduct a survey to identify the environmental issues (in their community, their country and the world) for which people are concerned. They tally and graph the results. Also, students discuss how surveys are important when engineers make decisions about environmental issues.
It is essential for engineers to understand multiple impact levels of environmental issues so that they are able to make sound decisions. As a first step, if engineers see that an issue has the potential to affect more than one community, they develop a solution that is good for all communities. As environmental engineers research environmental issues, they discuss these issues with everyone who may be affected. Then, they determine solutions that benefit (or do no harm to) the community, country and beyond.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Understand how engineers identify and understand environmental issues by talking to different people that are affected.
- Students predict environmental issues that will be important to their community.
- Students use a survey to identify the critical environmental issues in their community, their country and the world.