UnitGrades 5 - 7

Environmental Engineering

A series of three children's drawings: A depiction of the water cycle. A polluted Earth. A person drinking water from a polluted water source. Student depictions of the Earth and pollutionCopyright Kids Making A Connection, Health & the Environment (KMAC), Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/waterkmac/water1.htm

In this unit, students explore the various roles of environmental engineers, including: environmental cleanup, water quality, groundwater resources, surface water and groundwater flow, water contamination, waste disposal and air pollution. Specifically, students learn about the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that enable different animals and plants to survive in their environments.

Engineers continually work to prevent pollution so that our air is safe to breathe and our water is safe to drink and use for bathing and recreating. Different types of engineers continue to explore new, creative ideas to lower air emissions, such as designing more efficient vehicles, industrial filters to reduce the amount of particulate matter released into the atmosphere, and indoor air filters to keep our indoor air clean. Engineers design drinking water treatment facilities that bring safe drinking water to our schools, offices and homes.

Environmental and civil engineers guard the quality of our water resources in many ways. They design water and sewage treatment plants that clean water for human use, and design industrial systems and filters that make sure factory-released water is not polluting our environment. Furthermore, environmental engineers help clean up water sources and air that are polluted. They are challenged to clean the groundwater and restore it to a natural or usable state so that it remains free of harmful chemicals that could contaminate the drinking water supply and make people sick.

Another very important type of engineering involves the creative technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the U.S. Engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent groundwater, soil and air pollution. With the mountains of trash winding up in landfills each day, engineers are working to find ways to more quickly break down materials and create methods to reuse what is left for trash.

Whether keeping our water safe or finding ways to reuse water bottles, engineers are very important to our environmental health. Clearly, engineers greatly contribute to our health and safety.

(optional: Show students the What Is Engineering? video)

MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices
- Apply scientific principles to design an object, tool, process or system.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth's environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Crosscutting Concepts
- The uses of technologies and any limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions. Thus technology use varies from region to region and over time.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
- Relationships can be classified as causal or correlational, and correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment?
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices
- Construct an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Crosscutting Concepts
- Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
- Scientific knowledge can describe the consequences of actions but does not necessarily prescribe the decisions that society takes.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
- All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment?
MS-ETS1-1 Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices
- Define a design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process or system and includes multiple criteria and constraints, including scientific knowledge that may limit possible solutions.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- The more precisely a design task's criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that is likely to limit possible solutions.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Crosscutting Concepts
- The uses of technologies and any limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
- All human activity draws on natural resources and has both short and long-term consequences, positive as well as negative, for the health of people and the natural environment.
  Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment?

Environmental Engineering

Overview

Engineering Connection

Educational Standards

Common Core State Standards - Math

Next Generation Science Standards - Science

Schedule

Curriculum in this Unit

Copyright & Attributions

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