Through eye-opening, thought-provoking coverage, each episode of Journey to Planet Earth brings some of the most important global issues to light. It also asks serious questions regarding the future of Earth's environment and how our own long-term health and well-being is inextricably tied to that future.

The hands-on activities in the Journey to Planet Earth Action Kit make the questions of Journey to Planet Earth more relevant to today's youth. In addition to seeing real people struggling with environmental pressures, the activities in this kit allow students to come up with their own answers to some of the most pressing issues of the 21st century.

On behalf of the producers of Journey to Planet Earth, we hope you find this package a useful educational tool. The Journey To Planet Earth film series is available for use in schools, media libraries, museums and other educational institutions.

Order an Action Kit

To order a copy of the Journey to Planet Earth Action Kit, or additional activities, explorations and information, contact Screenscope, Inc.

Content

Based on the overarching themes of the Journey to Planet Earth PBS series, as well as major topics of environmental education, the Action Kit is divided into four distinct, yet interrelated units: Water, Soil, Air and Human Health. Through individual hands-on activities, action steps and resource materials of these units, many individual aspects of the broader themes addressed by the series are presented in greater detail.

Audience

Developed for teachers, parents and community youth group leaders who work with middle-school learners, the Journey to Planet Earth Action Kit is intended to be flexible in nature. Since environmental education happens everywhere, the unique learning opportunity of each setting and each educator must be considered. This diversity necessitates a varied approach to environmental education that can be taken as a whole, in parts or individually.

Together, the components of the Journey to Planet Earth Action Kit provide a fun, engaging and meaningful way to connect learners, no matter where they live, to the Earth and its interdependent systems and to help them develop an understanding of how our actions affect the Earth, and most importantly, how we can improve environmental conditions. We hope this Action Kit encourages viewing of the Journey to Planet Earth series, stimulates creative learning experiences and positive change.

Introduction

• Action Kit Table of Contents
• User's Guide
• Introducing Journey to Planet Earth
• The Television Series
• The Action Kit
• What is Advocacy?

Unit 1: Soil

• Soil Unit Table of Contents
• Educational Standards
• Background: Introduction to Soil
• Activity A: Watch That Worm Work
• Activity B: Filtered Out
• Activity C: The Root of the Matter
• Activity D: All Washed Out
• Soil Unit Glossary
• Soil Unit Resources

Unit 2: Water

• Water Unit Table of Contents
• Educational Standards
• Background: Introduction to Water
• Activity A: Water Quality Investigators
• Activity B: Oil Slick
• Activity C: What's Up with Wetlands?
• Activity D: Down the Drain
• Water Unit Glossary
• Water Unit Resources

Unit 3: Air

• Air Unit Table of Contents
• Educational Standards
• Background: Introduction to Air
• Activity A: Grab That Pollution
• Activity B: O-Zone You Don't
• Activity C: What's in the Lake?
• Activity D: My Own Private Environment
• Air Unit Glossary
• Air Unit Resources

Unit 4: Human Health

• Human Health Unit Table of Contents
• Educational Standards
• Background: Introduction to Human Health
• Activity A: B-Bi-Bio-Bioaccumulation
• Activity B: Millions of Microbes
• Activity C: Where Did All My Food Go?
• Activity D: Little Old Landfills
• Human Health Unit Glossary
• Human Health Unit Resources

Credits:

Action Kit developed by: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences

Doug Widener Vice President, Education
Jennifer Wood, Director of Brand Development
Peg Busard, Project Manager, Manager of Public Programs
Lea Paddock, TEENS Program Coordinator
Halley MacNaughton, Museum Educator/Project Leader
Beyond Words, Chicago, Illinois
Tracy Marks, Copyediting
studio blue, Chicago, Graphic design
Dakota Brown, Illustrator

Production of this Action Kit has been generously supported by The National Science Foundation. Additional funding provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; A Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health; NASA; W.K.Kellogg Foundation; Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; USDA SARE Program; US Department of Energy. With additional support from Continental Airlines, The World Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bernice Cross Trust.

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All rights reserved.