Each issue of The Science Teacher, NSTA’s high school journal, features the column The Green Room, with background information, classroom activities, and resources to make your teaching more environmentally friendly. Amanda Beckrich is the author of these articles. She is an environmental science teacher and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program Coordinator at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina.
If you subscribe to a different print journal, you still can access these articles online, to read them and add them to your Learning Center Library. Here is a recap of topics this school year:

• Pests and Pesticides. The article discusses the environmental, economic, and societal impacts of pesticides and the role of synthetic chemicals in agriculture.
• The Gray Wolf, A Good Case Study. Use the gray wolf as a case study for such topics as endangered species, wildlife conservation methods, ecosystem restoration, general population dynamics, and predator-prey interactions.
• Get Grounded in Groundwater. Extend lessons in the water cycle by exploring issues related to groundwater.
• Back to Ecological Basics, Part 1. How does energy flow through an ecosystem?
• Back to Ecological Basics, Part 2. The cycling of key elements/molecules—water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous—among an ecosystem’s biotic and abiotic components is crucial to its functioning.
• Why Care About Wetlands? Nesting grounds, flood control, waste water treatment, habitats…the list of reasons goes on.
• Good Ozone, Bad Ozone. Compare and contrast stratospheric (“good”) and tropospheric (“bad”) ozone.
• Underlying Causes of Environmental Problems. Most environmental problems can be traced to human population growth and consumption patterns.

 
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