poisoned waters

poisoned waters Teacher’s Guide

In Poisoned Waters, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards of water pollution to human health and the ecosystem, revealing that stormwater runoff and agricultural waste from huge chicken farms are combining with chemicals in consumers' face creams, deodorants, prescription medications and household cleaners to threaten both human health and the environment. Focusing on genetic mutations in fish and marine life as the "canary in the coal mine," Poisoned Waters both sounds an urgent alarm and points to citizen and government action groups that are attempting to address the massive problem of water pollution.

This guide is intended for 9th-to-12th-grade classes in social studies, civics and government, current events, economics, history, environmental studies, science and language arts. Poisoned Waters examines how water pollution from many sources threatens human health and the environment and also explores potential answers to the crisis. The guide invites teachers to use any or all of its activities. The featured lesson is based on video clips from Poisoned Waters in addition to research on various Web sites.

The guide includes a list of questions for students to discuss after viewing Poisoned Waters.

“What Can Students Do?: Raising Environmental Awareness”

Lesson Objectives:

Students will understand:

• Become familiar with and understand the environmental water pollution issues featured in Poisoned Waters
• Explore in greater depth a particular aspect of water pollution and its possible remedies
• Participate in group study and planning to create a presentation on the sources of water and environmental pollution and possible remedies for the problems
• Create posters, videos, PowerPoint presentations and/or speeches to teach and inspire students to become more aware of and act on local pollution concerns and the potential for smart growth
• Present their findings on the subject of water and environmental pollution

• “Exploring Your Local Water Resources’?"
• “Raising Environmental Awareness Further”
• “Planning Smart Growth for Your Community”

An annotated list of relevant articles and Web sites

DVDs of Poisoned Waters are available for purchase from Shop PBS for Teachers. Also, teachers and students can watch the film streamed in its entirety on FRONTLINE's Web site, http://www.pbs.org/frontline/poisonedwaters. A transcript is available at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/etc/script.html.

This teacher's guide was developed by Simone Bloom Nathan of Media Education Consultants. It was written by Ellen Greenblatt of The Bay School, San Francisco. Advisers were Debra Plafker-Gutt of Stuyvesant High School, New York, and Greg Timmons, curriculum writer and educational consultant.