A very short video introduction to how photosynthesis cycles energy through an ecosystem and a "real-world" application of ratios! Lindsay Hollister, JPPM's horticulturalist, taps a black walnut tree for its sap and park staff boil it down to create syrup. Included in this video are an animated food web showing the directions of energy flow during photosynthesis and when sap is "rising," which can be extended by students to include humans or more parts of their local ecosystem. Use the video as an introduction to activities about sugar and biological storage, and an excuse to sample maple syrup to taste the sugar. Alternatively, research trees nearby students could help tap and witness the biological transfer of energy themselves.

Always be sure you can successfully identify a plant before using it and take precautions to avoid negative reactions.

This resource is part of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s open educational resources project to provide history, ecology, archaeology, and conservation resources related to our 560 acre public park. More of our content can be found here on OER Commons or from our website at jefpat.maryland.gov. JPPM is a part of the Maryland Historical Trust under the Maryland Department of Planning.

Programming is becoming a more and more important skill to have. Childhood is a great time to start learning programming and to develop computational thinking, creativity, and problem- solving skills. In this course you will learn the basics of programming and how to teach it yourself as a primary or secondary school teacher.

This MOOC teaches programming in Scratch through fun videos which explain programming in an inspiring and clear way.

Every week you build a different Scratch project yourself: a flappy bird game, a virtual pet or a Mondriaan like artwork. Also weekly, new programming blocks are taught and together we’re working on ways to improve your written code. In addition, you will learn how you can integrate the same programming lessons in your class for both primary and secondary education.

Many programming principles covered in Scratch also apply to other programming languages such as JavaScript and Python. An introduction to Python as well as hardware such as robotics and a micro:bit are a part of this online course should you want to broaden your scope.

The content of this course is based on a course that was used in primary schools in The Netherlands with great success. The material follows the educational curriculum for programming in primary education of The Netherlands.

Secrets of the Hibernators STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. This kit is provided free for educational use. This Kit is available in Spanish.

In this lesson, students will investigate the miraculous process of air and water combining with seeds, soil, and sunlight to create nearly all the food we eat. Extension activities can take this a step further by encouraging kids to track growth rates of different seeds in an observation journal. Includes place-based connection, activity instructions, extension activities, songs, and vobaulary list.

NGSS: Partially meets 2-LS2-1, 1-LS1-1

Common Core: W.2.7, W.2.8, and MD.K, MD.1, MD.2.1, MD.3.3, MD.4.4, MD.5 with extension activities.

Time: 45 minutes

Materials: "One Bean" book or other book about plant germination, clear plastic cups, paper cups, paper towels, seeds, and water.

In this activity, students use Google Earth to investigate a variety of renewable energy sources and select sites within the United States that would be appropriate for projects based on those sources.

This unit describes a general approach to guiding students to complete service-based engineering design projects, with specific examples provided in detail as associated activities. With your class, brainstorm ideas for engineering designs that benefit your community or a specific person in your community. Then, guided by the steps of the engineering design process, have students research to understand background science and math, meet their client to understand the problem, and create, test and improve prototype devices. Note that service-based projects often take more time to prepare, especially if you arrange for a real client. However, the authors notice that students of both genders and all ethnicities tend to respond with more enthusiasm and interest to altruistic projects.

This project is designed to introduce students to a local hydrogeologic problem or issue of interest to the community. The project requires the students to learn about their local groundwater environment and apply principles and concepts that they learn in the classroom to an issue that is of concern to the public. This project provides a good introduction to "real world" problems that the students are likely to encounter as professionals. Students are required to synthesize information from a variety of sources and develop their own assessment of the problem and also to make recommendations based on their professional opinions.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Remove a problem species and make a natural soap! Lindsay Hollister, JPPM's horticulturalist, shares how to identify the invasive English Ivy vine and make a soap from the saponins it naturally produces. These molecules naturally deter predators from eating the species, but their structures also make them bond to both waters and fats. Consider using the video or conducting the activity at your location as an integrated introduction to learning about biodiversity and the structures of molecules or atoms, since saponins are valuable as a soap because they are able to bond with either water or fats/lipids.

Always be sure you can successfully identify a plant before using it and take precautions to avoid negative reactions.

This resource is part of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s open educational resources project to provide history, ecology, archaeology, and conservation resources related to our 560 acre public park. JPPM is a part of the Maryland Historical Trust under the Maryland Department of Planning. If you evaluate or use this resource, please respond to this short (4 question!) survey at bit.ly/3GrTjPk

Soil Carbon STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVNHtSSSa8c This kit is provided free for educational use. This kit is available in Spanish also at the link provided. .

Solar Cars STEM Kit. The Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center collaborates with CSU faculty, National Parks and citizen science programs to translate their current scientific research into unique STEM experiences for students in the form of Educational Kits that can be checked out. Each kit contains just about all of the materials needed (minus common things like water and paper towels) to explore some really interesting scientific research topics.The kits are available for teachers and informal educators in Colorado to check out for a duration of a week by submitting either a local pickup form or a delivery form available at the linked website. This kit is provided free for educational use. This Kit is available in Spanish.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to identify and use geometrical knowledge to solve a problem. In particular, this unit aims to identify and help students who have difficulty in: making a mathematical model of a geometrical situation; drawing diagrams to help with solving a problem; identifying similar triangles and using their properties to solve problems; and tracking and reviewing strategic decisions when problem-solving.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to solve quadratics in one variable. In particular, the lesson will help teachers identify and help students who have the following difficulties: making sense of a real life situation and deciding on the math to apply to the problem; solving quadratic equations by taking square roots, completing the square, using the quadratic formula, and factoring; and interpreting results in the context of a real life situation.

The Tippy Tap hand-washing station is an inexpensive and effective device used extensively in the developing world. One shortcoming of the homemade device is that it must be manually refilled with water and therefore is of limited use in high-traffic areas. In this activity, student teams design, prototype and test piping systems to transport water from a storage tank to an existing Tippy Tap hand-washing station, thereby creating a more efficient hand-washing station. Through this example service-learning engineering project, students learn basic fluid dynamic principles that are needed for creating efficient piping systems.

This single instrumental qualitative case study explores and thickly describes job performance outcomes based upon the manner in which self-directed learning activities of a purposefully selected sample of 3 construction managers are conducted, mediated by the use of Web 2.0 technology. The data collected revealed that construction managers are concerned with the performance expected of them, in addition to how well they perform their work-related activities (orientation to learning), indicating that organizations should provide guidelines on the use and expected outcomes of self-directed learning in addition to providing the tools, resources, and time (environmental factors) to match performance needs; construction managers feel that work-related activities expected of them, how well the work-related activities are performed, and consequences for poor performance at work are determining factors in selecting Web 2.0 technologies; while construction managers understand the need for rules restricting the use of Web 2.0 technologies in performing their jobs, they feel these rules do hinder their performance because access to specific information they need to answer a question, solve a problem, or research to learn something new is sometimes restricted; and successful performance outcomes are determined by compliance to expected performance behaviors of others, such as answering a question or solving a problem an architect or superintendent have presented, as well as expectations construction managers have set for themselves. The following are appended: (1) Call for Participation--Web 2.0 Technology Project; (2) Informed Consent Letter and Form/Template; (3) Semistructured Interview Guide; and (4) Permission to Conduct Research Study.

In this activity, students learn about creating a design directly from a CAD (computer-aided design) program. They will design a tower in CAD and manufacture the parts with a laser cutter. A competition determines the tower design with the best strength:weight ratio. Students also investigate basic structural truss concepts and stress concentrations. Partnership with a local college or manufacturing center is necessary for the completion of this project.

In this lesson, students will investigate how trees change by the season. Includes discussion of techniques for identifying trees, journaling changes that take place over time for the same tree throughout the school year, a list of vocabulary, a field guid to identifying trees, and a tree journal worksheet for students.

NGSS: Partially meets 2-LS4-1

Common Core: W.2.7, W.2.8, 2.MD.D.10

Social Sciences: 3.12, 4.12

Time: 1 hour initially, then 30-40 minute lessons through the seasons

Materials: "The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree" book, My Tree Journal pages (included), pencils, colored pencils, and clipboards.

Tree Steward Manual is designed for Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners who are training to be certified advanced Master Gardener tree stewards. Written by a dedicated team of volunteers who themselves completed advanced Master Gardener tree steward training, the manual covers a wide range of topics, specific to each region of Virginia, including identifying trees, selecting and planting appropriate trees for local landscapes, caring for trees, and troubleshooting tree problems.

In Virginia, advanced Master Gardener tree steward training is offered by the local Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program. Once the training is completed, volunteers become certified advanced EMG tree stewards and commit to a specific number of volunteer hours working on local tree steward projects. EMG tree stewards work on projects based on the needs of their local community as determined mutually between the local agent/coordinator and active tree stewards.

While Tree Steward Manual was developed with EMG training in mind, it is also appropriate for general readers who want to deepen their knowledge of trees and tree care. ​​

How to Access this Book This text is available in multiple formats including PDF, a low-resolution PDF which is faster to download, and ePub found on the left side of your screen. It is also available online in Pressbooks at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/treesteward. If you are printing this book to use in Tree Steward training, please see the "How to Use This Book" page for instructions. The main landing page for this book is: https://doi.org/10.21061/treesteward.

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Table of Contents
1. About Advanced Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and the Tree Steward Training Manual
2. The Learning Experience
3. The Benefits (and Disadvantages) of Trees
4. Botany of Trees
5. Tree Taxonomy, Identification, and Measurement
6. Soil Properties and Management
7. Trees and Ecology
8. Siting, Selecting, and Planting
9. Tree Health Care and Pruning

Publication Information
ISBN: 978-1-949373-70-7 (PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-949373-71-4 (EPUB)
ISBN: 978-1-949373-72-1 (PressBooks)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/treesteward

Attribution This book was created by a dedicated team of Extension Master Gardener Volunteers and published in 2021. The book was edited by Carol King and Laura Marlowe. Chapters were authored by Carol King, Megan Tierney, Daina Henry, Patsy McGrady, Gwen Harris, Cherilyn Kern, Laurie Fox, Ed Olsen, Carol Fryer, and Cindy Ogle.

Units 4, 5, and 6 provide the opportunity for students to delve into a greater examination of food security at a regional level in small teams selecting one of the following locations (Caribbean, New York City, or Nebraska) OR a new location of their choice (provided that information and datasets are easily available and students will work with the instructor prior to the start of the unit) to apply skills and concepts taught in Units 1-3. Unit 4 materials are designed to provide a place-based overview for students to prepare them for the summative assessment, to be submitted in Unit 6, a community-based action plan of how the selected community can increase food security and lessen vulnerability.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this unit, student groups will use sensory data (scents and/or sounds) collected in the field to create maps of the sensory environment and relate their findings to larger environmental problems identified in their guiding questions and hypotheses. This unit is designed to build upon prior units in which students develop guiding questions and hypotheses, field data collection protocols, and field investigation plans. The field investigation will require a base map on which to record data and a final map on which to display data and characterize the study area and environmental impact of the mapped data. The base map will be derived from aerial imagery if the investigation site is outside. The base map will be derived from a building schematic or floor map if an interior location is mapped.
Class time will be devoted to developing maps on which students will display the data collected in the field. Students will use Google Earth or other online resources to obtain aerial (or other schematic) imagery of their study area. They may use an aerial image as a base map or they may draw their own maps based on the aerial imagery. If the site is indoors, a blueprint or floor plan can be the base map, or students can draw their own maps based on an existing image or schematic.
Sensory mapping allows students to identify scent plumes as they migrate away from source locations. Odor plumes and sounds are analogous to plumes of contaminants that migrate through groundwater, surface water, and air. In many instances, the presence of unusual odors is an indicator of migrating contaminants and can lead to sampling by environmental professionals (including geoscientists) to confirm and quantify contaminant migration through the environment. These maps serve as representations of the complex odor or sound systems in the students' chosen geographical areas.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Below is just one example of the field based problems that my class has undertaken. We undertake a number of other projects that are described briefly in the attached document. I provide students similar documentation for the other projects.

Attached are the following documents:
1) Project proposal (containing: over of potential types of projects, proposal requirements, survey design considerations, project background material and outline of project)
2) Conducting the field surveys
3) Final project (and possible variations)

Students conduct a field geophysical study on the Lake Superior State University campus that was a U.S. military camp in the 1950's and 1960's. There are concerns as to whether the military left anything buried behind such as underground storage tanks, unexploded ordinances, buried drums, etc. The study area is the likely location of the next campus housing building. After undertaking this study we were contacted by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to see our results which students presented to them. The US Army Corps of Engineers and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are now using our results as they examine what might have been left behind at the facility. Students were excited about undertaking a "real study" answering an important question where the results were unknown to anyone a head of time.

Overview of project design

1) a. Students design the geophysical survey (written and oral presentation) including which instruments to use and why, what are the survey characteristics (I provide guidelines for survey time constraints)
b. Students must create models of expected anomalies for each of the different instruments proposed
c. Students discuss and debate the merits of the various proposed geophysical techniques and survey characteristics
2) Students carry out the field geophysical survey as teams
3) Students use computers to process, display, model and interpret the geophysical data they collect
4) Students present results of the study both orally and in a written form (e.g., technical report, scientific paper, scientific poster, etc. depending on year and other projects)

Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)