Missouri Environmental Education News May 2015
Earth Quest Debuts at Earth Day. MEEA Board Member Cheryl Hardy shows Columbia Earth Day Festival attendees how to play Earth Quest, MEEA's new envrionmental knowledge game. Players advance around the board by correctly answering environmental questions. The game board and a set of questions can be downloaded for free from www.meea.org/earth-quest.html. Grades 6-8 and 9-12 questions and additional topics will be added over the next few months.
The MEEA List of Things to Know About Global Warming
- The heat trapping properties of carbon dioxide were measured in 1859. Learn about John Tyndall and his experiments at NASA - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Tyndall/
- The global warming potential (GWP) of methane is 21 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. Find out more about GWP at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch2s2-10-2.html
- Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) model future changes in temperature based on levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Find out more about RCPs at Skeptical Science - http://www.skepticalscience.com/rcp.php?t=3#emissionsconcentrations
- Since 1990, Missouri's plant hardiness zones have moved about 200 miles north. Find out more about the change in zones at Arbor Day - http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
- A car that gets 20 mpg emits about 1 lb of carbon dioxide per mile. Find out more about fuel efficiency at the Department of Energy - http://www.fueleconomy.gov
- The Department of Defense (DoD) is researching the vulnerability of its coastal installations to sea level rise. Find out more about DoD climate change research at the Strategic Environmental Reserch and Development Program- https://www.serdp-estcp.org/News-and-Events/Blog/Assessing-Coastal-Installations-Vulnerability-to-Sea-Level-Rise
- Pope Francis has written an encyclical on climate change and the poor, due to be released in June. Find out more about the encyclical at the Catholic News Agency - http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/popes-encyclical-could-have-huge-weigh-in-on-climate-change-talks-92782/
Things to Look for (or Look Out for) in May
- National Bear Aware Month - http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/black-bear
- Lyme Disease Awareness Month - http://lymedisease.org/photowall/lyme-disease-awareness-month.html
- National Electricity Safety Month - http://www.esfi.org
- National Bike Month - http://bikeleague.org/bikemonth
- Wildflower Week - the 2nd Week
- National Bike Week - the 3rd Week
- International Migratory Bird Day - Second Saturday (the 9th)
- Mother's Day - Second Sunday (the 10th) - thank your mom for taking you outside when you were young, or for not freaking out when you lost your pet snake in the house..
- National Bike to Work Day - Third Friday (the 15th)
- Sunscreen Protection Day - the 27th
- Learn about Composting Day - the 29th
MEEA News
- Call for Environmental Educator Grants Opens. The 2015 EE grant application is here. Grant applicants must be current MEEA members. Grants are for $250. The deadline for the application is June 15.
- Call for Missouri EE & Green Schools Conference Proposal Opens. The 2015 presentation proposal formats and application are here. The deadline for submitting a proposal is June 10.
- Call for Environmental Education Award Recipients Opens. The 2015 EE Award submissions are open. Details of the different awards and list of past recipients are here. The nomination process is here. Submissions must be postmarked June 15, 2015.
- MEEA debuts Earth Quest at Columbia's Earth Day Festival. Using questions developed for the environmental literacy quizzes, MEEA Board member Cheryl Hardy and MEEA Executive Director Jan Weaver created a board game that tests environmental knowledge at different levels, Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5 on four subjects, Human Health, Critical Resources, Technology-Tools-Skills and Energy. Answering an 'easy' K-2 question allows players to advance 3 spaces. Answering a 'hard' 3-5 question allows them to move 6 spaces. The game board and playing cards can be printed out for free here. Jan plans to add more levels (grades 6-8 and grades 9-12) and more subjects over the next few months.
- MEEA Board News- April 14 meeting. The board approved a fee of $25 for current members for the October 10 Missouri EE and Green Schools Conference. Renewing and Non-members will pay additional fees. The Board also approved presentation formats - a 60 minute hands-on format, 30 minute table talks, posters and a new format - a 3 minute presentation for the EE slam. The Board also approved offering free registration at the conference to 2015 Grants recipients and 2015 Award recipients. The Board approved inviting MEEA members to take the on-line Environmental Behavior Styles Survey compiled by Jan Weaver and Cheryl Hardy. Read the (unapproved) minutes of the April 14, 2015 meeting
- MEEA Submits Proposal to the North American Association for EE Meeting in October. Beginning with the End in Mind – Start with Assessments! Join a structured conversation on assessment with opportunities to try out leveled quiz questions on diverse environmental topics (free online), to play an environmental literacy board game (free download), and to start developing assessment ideas for your own program or class. Learn more abou tthe NAAEE meeting here.
- On Deck for May. Report on 2nd Annual Fundraiser. The 990 EZ for 2014. Report on the Missouri Environmental Literacy Advisory Board meeting May 7. Update on the Outdoor Bill of Rights idea.
Coming Up in the Next Two Months
- Grant Deadlines
more info here
- American Honda
- Earth island Institute Brower Youth Awards
- Missouri Department of Conservation Education Grants
- National Weather Association Sol Hirsch Education Fund Grants
- American Chemical Society ChemClub Community Activities Grants
- Treen Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) Grants
- MEEA Environmental Educator Grants
- Conferences and Meetings more info here
- Missouri Environmental Literacy Advisory Board - Jefferson City
- Connecting Families and Nature - Branson
- Professional Development Workshops
more info here
- Project WET - Mark Twain State Park
- Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring - Columbia
- Nature Unleashed - Columbia
- Nature Unfolds - Columbia
- Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring - Arnold
- Exploring the City - St. Louis
- Nature Unleashed - St. Louis
- Where is Away? - St. Louis
- Nature Revealed - Springfield
- Nature Unbound - Springfield
- Insect Inquiry - Cape Giradeau
- Stomp in the Swamp - Mingo National Wildlife Refuge
- Missouri's Ponds, Forests and Praries - Duck Creek Conservation Area
- How to Create an Outdoor Classroom and Reap the Benefits - Cape Girardeau
- Calls for Papers, Proposals and Nominations more info here
- Association of Missouri Interpreters - Kansas City in September
- Missouri Environmental Education and Green Schools - St. Louis in October
- Missouri Environmental Educator Award
- Outdoor, Nature, Environmental and Sustainability Event Calendars- visit our page of organization and agency calendars - if you would like to have your organization's regularly updated calendar added, email Jan Weaver
EE Resources check out resources here
- Climate and Weather Lessons
- Gallery of Greenhouse Molecules
- The Climate Literacy Framework
- Atmosphere Design Lab
EE Jobs check out jobs here
- Community Conservation Planner
- Outreach and Education Division Chief MDC
- Naturalist Assistant (5/22); Naturalist (5/13)
MEEA Environmental Literacy Quizzes
Climate Change
Take one or more of these on-line environmental literacy quizzes and help us improve them! All four quizzes consist of questions randomly selected from a 30+ question bank for each grade level. For early elementary there are 5 questions per quiz, for the older grades there are 10 questions per quiz.
Help us answer these questions:
- Assuming the students have covered these topics in school, is the vocabulary, sentence complexity and topic appropriate for each grade? Keep in mind, kids can master long words and simple concepts if they are taught to them.
- Are there any errors in the questions or the answers, either factual or grammatical?
To take a quiz, click on its link. You will be sent to a sign- in page which will ask for your name. Then just start the quiz. At the end you will get your score and see the correct answers. Quizzes can be repeated, but questions and answers are shuffled with each quiz.
Please share any thoughts, comments, or corrections you have with me at weaverjc@missouri.edu.
| Link to On-line Quiz | Quiz Description |
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These quiz questions introduce the idea of different gases in the air that we breathe, how different kinds of plants and animals rely on certain conditions of temperature and rainfall, how the sunlight warms things, and a few jobs associated with or affected by weather and climate. Vocabulary (some of this vocabulary is part of the wrong answers, but is helpful to know for that reason) Africa, Antarctic, Arctic, big bluestem, carbon dioxide, centimeters – cm, colorless, creosote bush, droughts, electricity, emperor penguin habitat, farmer, forester, gas (as in a state of matter), Great Basin desert, greenhouse, helium , ice, inches, laughing gas, matter (as in gases, liquids, solids), minus (as in negative temperatures), monarch butterfly habitat, nitrogen, oak tree, ostrich habitat, oxygen, polar bear habitat, prairie, rain, shade, snow, temperate forest, temperature, water vapor, weather caster, wildlife manager |
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These quiz questions cover greenhouse gases, global warming, weather hazards, the temperature and moisture requirements of crops, models and predicting, heat and energy, jobs associated with tracking weather and climate effects, and plant hardiness zones and plant ranges. Vocabulary (some of this vocabulary is part of the wrong answers, but is helpful to know for that reason) abnormal, carbon dioxide, Centrigrade - °C, corn, cup (as in measuring cup), earthquake, energy (as in ability to do work), equator, Farenheit - °F, floods, future, greenhouse gases, growing temperature, heat (as in motion of particles), hurricane, inches, lb, meteorologist, microscopic particles, miles per gallon – mpg, models (as in modeling a system), plant hardiness zone , prediction, range (as in the range of a plant), scientist, ski, snowpack, soil moisture, sorghum, sugar cane, temperature, thermometer, tornado, tropical, weather, weather hazard, weather station, wheat, wildfire |
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These quiz questions deal with vocabulary specific to weather, climate and climate change, the different kinds of greenhouse gases, simple projections of climate change and its effects, contributing causes and jobs that intersect with climate change. Vocabulary (some of this vocabulary is part of the wrong answers, but is helpful to know for that reason) acidification, albedo, analysis, analyst, argon, carbon dioxide, climate change, conifer forest, coordinate (as in geographic coordinate), coriolis effect, correlation, deciduous forest, front (as in a weather front), gigatons – GT, global surface temperature, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases – ghgs, heat (as in the random motion of particles), helum, HVAC technician, hydrogen, jet stream, latitude, longitude, methane, miles per gallon – mpg, nitrogen, nitrous, oxide, oceanographer, ozone, parachuting, poles (as in the geographic poles), smoke jumper, sulfur dioxide, temperature,thermometer, water vapor, wildland fire |
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These quiz questions deal with ideas and vocabulary specific to global warming like mitigation, adaptation, residence time and global warming potential, with some of the historic events and persons associated with the discover of global warming, and with jobs that address adaptation and mitigation. Vocabulary (some of this vocabulary is part of the wrong answers, but is helpful to know for that reason) adaptation manager, carbon dioxide, carbon trader, catastrophic weather, committed warming, continuous monitoring, global warming potential – gwp, heat trapping, inconvenient truth, industrialization, insurance adjustor, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC, John Tyndall 1859, Mauna Loa, Milutin Milankovitch 1920s, mitigation, molecules, radiative forcing, residence time (as in how long a gas remains in the atmosphere), response/recovery specialist, Roger Revelle 1956, sequestration, Svante Arrhenius 1895, the Energy Information Agency – EIA, the Environmental Protection Agency –EPA, the Food and Agriculture Organization – FAO, the International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA ,the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA
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