Lesson Plan Two:
Lecture on Pollutants
Key Questions
1. What are some major pollutants?
2. What effects do these pollutants have on the environment?
3. What effects do these pollutants have on people?
4. What pesticides have been used and are currently in use that are of environmental
importance?
Concepts Covered
Science: Conservation, Chemistry, Ecology, and Pollutants.
Social Studies: Business Ethics and Government vs. Industrial Obligations.
Time Estimate
50 minute class period
Key Vocabulary
PCBs: Polychlorinated Biphenyls, PCBs form a group of compounds that were
developed in the 1930s and were mainly used in the electricity supply industry and
mining. Due to their accumulation in the food chain, production of PCBs was halted
world-wide at the beginning of the 1980s. PCBs are, however, still found in trace
concentrations in the sea and in the fatty tissue of marine animals.
DDT: Di-chloro-di-phenyl-tri-chloro-ethane. Used as a Pesticide, it was extensively
used during the Second World War among Allied troops and certain civilian
populations to control insect typhus and malaria vectors, and was then extensively
used as an agricultural insecticide after 1945. When DDT got into the food chain it
caused problems at the top, particularly for the Peregrine. The numbers of Peregrine
declined rapidly because DDT was causing the egg shells to thin and the eggs to
break before hatching.
Organohalogens: Durable chemical compounds like DDT and Freon that contain
halogens-chlorine, helium, neon, bromine, fluorine, and so on-and that are partially
responsible for the decomposition of the ozone layer.
Insecticide, Fungicide. Herbicide: Any number of chemical compounds used in the
control and elimination of: insect. fungi, and weeds respectively.
Environmental Estrogens:
Lesson Summary
To understand why pollutants and especially pesticides are important to people, it
is necessary to understand the specific pollutants and pesticides and their mechanisms for
pollution. This lecture will give all of the important vocabulary that the students will need
during the rest of this unit. It will also cover the important chemistry around pollutants
and their decay.
Student Learning Objective
1. The student will be able to ….
Materials
1. A copy of the overhead notes or the notes on a power point.
Background Information
See the notes themselves.
Advanced Preparation
If your students need it, be sure that you have an overhead projector or power
point ready to deliver the notes. If your students can handle taking notes during a lecture
then you don’t need any real advanced prep.
Procedure
1. Warm up (5 min): Have the students answer the bell work questions while you
take care of administrative duties. Suggested Questions: What work is Dr. Payne,
the host of yesterday’s video, best known for? (Humpback Whale research)
Where do the pollutants get stored in animals? (Fatty tissues) Chlorine and other
halogens have what affect on male development? (They mimic estrogen and
suppress testosterone)
2. Procedure, Lecture (40 min): using the overhead or a power point, give the
students the notes in a lecture style. Alternatively, you could lead the class in a
discussion following the notes and have the students get the information that way.
3. Wrap up (5 min):